The Right Path
by Melkor's Mercy
Summary: What if Naruto learned from the Forbidden Scroll before Mizuki ever told him about it? One of its forbidden jutsus ends up accidentally conjuring the ghost of Tobirama Senju. Enthralled by the dead Nidaime, Naruto asks for his help to become Hokage. Tobirama agrees, and along the way Naruto develops a legendary bloodline that not even the Sharingan can match. Naruto/harem
1. Chapter 1

**Full Summary:** What if Naruto learned about the forbidden scroll before Mizuki ever told him about it? What if he managed to copy it and learn more than shadow clones? One of its forbidden jutsus ends up accidentally conjuring the ghost of Tobirama Senju. Enthralled by the dead Nidaime, Naruto asks for his help to become Hokage. Tobirama only agrees when Naruto mentions his name and his desire to defeat Sasuke Uchiha. Along the way, he discovers his relation to the Senjus and a legendary bloodline. Naruto/harem

 **A/N:** Alright guys, I know I should be updating my Bleach fic, _White_ , (or my DXD fic) and I'll probably catch a ton of heat for posting a new fic, but I had a stroke of inspiration recently, which made me pull this story out to post. The first 2 chapters of this story have been sitting unedited in my fanfic document folder for like two years now, and I've never gotten around to putting it together until now. Don't ask me why...I was in a mood after rewatching some of Shippuden. As far as the story itself is concerned, I thought it would be badass if Naruto was trained by Tobirama (*cough* best Hokage *cough*). He's going to adopt a lot of Tobirama's realist attitudes towards things and will be developing **Senju and Uzumaki** abilities. Naruto isn't going to need some fancy bullshit Doujutsu in this fic, because he's going to be overpowered as fuck without any magical eyes. If you're a fan of my fanfics, then you can already imagine where this one will go. It's a harem like most of my stories, but I'm pretty picky with them. I'll be putting in some of my favorite girls from Naruto. Samui, Haku, and Fu are the only confirmed ones currently. If there's a girl that you absolutely desire to have in the harem then give me a good reason early on before I write out the whole plot and I'll consider it. Also, there won't be any major Team 7 or village council bashing (well maybe a little…I can't help it. I promise nothing ridiculous or unwarranted though).

 **Chapter 1: Ghost of the Nidaime**

A young ten-year-old Naruto was currently in the Hokage's office once again for another public mishap. The blonde boy held his head down in slight shame as the Hokage spoke sternly, "Naruto, I know it's difficult for you to behave, but things like this really paint a target on your back. This is the third time this month I've had to call off the village council. You can't keep doing things like this and expect there to be no consequences."

"Aww, c'mon gramps, I didn't do anything wrong!" Naruto protested.

The Hokage rose a brow as he clasped his hands together, "I'm all one for a good prank too, Naruto, but you heavily damaged the Nidaime's monument. Many see that as a sign of disrespect, and there's only so much I can shield you. I can understand your need for attention, but don't you feel that it's disrespectful to the Hokages? You say you want to be Hokage one day but acts like that are not how you become a Hokage. I doubt you know this, but you can't just become Hokage on a whim. Not only does it take the former Hokage's approval, but you also have to be appointed Hokage by the village leaders. That means earning people's respect and admiration. Damaging village monuments is not a good start..."

"C'mon, gramps! It's not like they can't just fix it anyways! Besides, I do respect the Hokages!" Naruto shot back.

"Really? Then tell me, Naruto…what is the name of Nidaime? The man whose monument you almost destroyed with your paint bomb prank?" Sarutobi tested.

"I…umm…I guess I don't know," Naruto trailed off in thought as if the revelation was deeply shocking to him.

Sarutobi sighed, "If you truly wish to become Hokage one day, then it might do you some good to study the former Hokages and learn why they were so respected. I don't care if you want to pull pranks, Naruto, but try not to upset the village leaders. Many of them are especially upset that it was the Nidaime's monument in particular."

"Pfft…like I care what those old geezers think anyway!" the blonde said aggressively.

"You're lucky it's up to me and not the council. They suggested your expulsion from the shinobi academy," Sarutobi elaborated.

Naruto's eyes widened and for the first time, he didn't know what to say. He was silent for a long moment before speaking again, "How can I learn about the former Hokages then?"

"They are taught about in the academy, but if you're truly curious to learn more on your own, then I'll allow you access to the Hokage Tower library. Just mind yourself though…some of it is off limits for everyone except high ranking Shinobi," Sarutobi elaborated.

"A library…how lame," Naruto said unhappily.

"Work hard and study, Naruto…that's the first step to becoming Hokage," the Sandaime replied.

Naruto put his hands behind his head and sighed, "Yeah yeah…so where's this library at then?"

"It's not too far from my office actually. Here, follow me," the old man spoke as he made his way for the door.

Naruto followed him for about a minute as they winded around some corridors and up a flight of additional stairs. They soon came upon a library. A Jonin was currently standing in front of a door and looked a bit alarmed when he saw the Hokage and Naruto approach.

"Hokage-sama!" the man announced respectfully as he immediately opened the door for them. The elder ninja's eyes locked onto Naruto suspiciously, but he said nothing as the blonde boy walked inside.

"Here you are, Naruto…feel free to come by here and study anytime you wish during the day. I will inform the Jonin in the tower to allow you access to the first level of the library," the Hokage explained before walking towards the exit.

Naruto stood there somewhat uncertainly as Sarutobi turned back and spoke to the Jonin guarding the door, "Naruto is allowed in here to study. I don't want any trouble, understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" the Jonin replied respectfully before the Hokage departed.

After he was gone, Naruto looked around the somewhat small library as he scratched his head. Reading had never really been his thing before, but Naruto was a bit curious about the former Hokages now.

Against his own childish restlessness, he decided to look around and find something interesting to read. He eventually found a book called _Legacy of the Hokages_ and decided on it. He brought the book to an isolated table in the corner and looked over it. The book didn't look overly fancy or anything, but it did have colored portraits of the Hokages inside of it.

Naruto read the first page curiously, _"Hashirama Senju…First Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. A renowned warrior and sage in his lifetime, the Shodaime was an unequaled shinobi. Legends say that he was so powerful that the ninja world referred to him as the God of Shinobi. All known accounts state he had the largest chakra pool in the ninja world and a legendary, unique ability…wood release."_

' _Wow, that sounds pretty cool. Though wood release doesn't sound very strong,'_ Naruto thought to himself.

" _Wood release was renowned for its ability to drain chakra and create life. No known Senju descendants have ever developed this ability except for the Shodaime."_ Naruto finished reading the excerpt about the first hokage.

He skimmed through some other boring stuff before reaching the part about the second hokage, _"Following the reign of his older brother Hashirama, Tobirama Senju would later become the Nidaime Hokage. The Nidaime is most famously known for his establishment of much of the village structure we see today. Tobirama Senju was a master of all five elemental natures, but was most renowned as the greatest water ninjutsu specialist to ever live. His greatest legacy however was the creation of hundreds of jutsus used far and wide in the Shinobi world. He is also credited as the second fastest shinobi in history behind the Yondaime."_

' _Wow, he sounds pretty cool…now I feel kind of bad about messing up his monument,'_ Naruto thought to himself.

" _The Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, is also renowned for his mastery of all five elemental chakra natures and his genius level intellect. He led Konoha through two great shinobi wars and was a personal underling of the former Hokages. He was appointed to the position of Hokage directly by his predecessor Tobirama Senju before the latter's death. He was also among the first Shinobi to graduate from Konoha's newly formed Shinobi Academy,"_ Naruto's eyes widened upon reading about the old man.

' _I had no idea gramps was that good…I wonder if he could appoint me Hokage if I became super powerful? I don't see the villagers ever electing me unless I do something amazing.'_ Naruto pondered.

His eyes eagerly went to the next page as and read about the Yondaime, _"A legend among Konoha, and a genius Shinobi for his time, Minato Namikaze would become the fourth Hokage. Renowned for his infamy in the third great shinobi war, he was better known by his nickname…Konoha's Yellow Flash. The Yondaime is regarded as the fastest Shinobi to ever live even surpassing the Nidaime. He was one of the most fearsome shinobi of his time due to his Flying Raijin Jutsu. The Yondaime would eventually perish at the hands of the monstrous Kyuubi."_

' _Wow…Yondaime sounds awesome!'_ Naruto thought with amazement as he looked at the man's picture, _'He's got blonde hair and blue eyes just like me...'_

Naruto continued to read more about the Hokages and the non-confidential information about them in the book. He was truly fascinated by them all, and after two short hours, he came to an epiphany, _'All of the Hokages were geniuses! They knew so many jutsus and had special powers and reputations! Man, I need to get something like that. Even gramps Hokage sounds awesome the way they describe him here. Mastery over all five nature elements…I wonder how I can learn an elemental jutsu?'_

As if fate could hear his thoughts, Naruto overheard several Jonin leaving from a staircase upstairs. Naruto immediately figured that it must have been the restricted section. He took cover when the two Jonin began to speak to each other.

"The forbidden scroll is accounted for. No tampering," one of the Jonin reported the third one in the room.

"Good…I seriously don't know why they won't just let the Anbu take care of it," the other man sighed.

The first one shook his head, "Do you trust ROOT with that scroll? You know how Danzo-sama can be. The Hokage made us swear to keep it safe from anyone except for him personally."

"What's even in that scroll anyways? I mean it has to be pretty bad to be forbidden…" the other asked.

"Who knows…but I'd wager it probably has some dangerous jutsus in it. I wouldn't trust that around anyone shady from ROOT," he replied.

Against all odds, Naruto managed to sneak around them as he decided to go upstairs to where they had just been. He cautiously maneuvered through a few light traps and eventually caught sight of a large scroll hidden at the edge of the room.

' _I'm willing to be that thing's covered in traps,'_ Naruto thought logically for once.

After a few seconds of careful extraction, he managed to pick up the scroll and open it. It was incredibly complex looking and he didn't know how to take it all in as he stared at it for a moment.

Naruto knew the basics of hand seals and the like, but he had no way of comprehending some of the advanced things he was seeing in the scroll. Even despite being smarter than people gave him credit for, Naruto was lost.

' _Man, how am I ever going to learn anything from this? What the hell is Edo Tensei?'_ Naruto thought bewildered.

Unsure of what to do, he decided to copy down everything he could on the scroll to a blank scroll that he was carrying from class still. He copied every symbol and character to the best of his ability, even if he had no idea what any of it was or what it meant.

Placing the scroll down for a moment, Naruto let out a sigh, _'Man this is tough. Is there anything else up here that can help me out?'_

His eyes trailed around the room until they caught sight of some antique looking headband sitting in a dusty corner. It had a symbol he didn't recognize on the forehead area. It was a horizontal line with two curved symbols on each side. He couldn't quite explain what the headpiece was, but upon looking at its inside area, he saw an inscription, _'Tobirama Senju's Happuri.'_

A brief examination immediately caused Naruto to realize that it was the same type of headpiece the Nidaime's monument had on his head. Though this one didn't have the Konoha symbol…it had what he assumed was the Senju Clan's emblem.

' _Wow…this belonged to the Nidaime? This thing looks cool…I'm going to keep it,'_ Naruto thought excitedly as he put it away in his pack.

He didn't see much else in the upstairs portion of the library that caught his interest, and quickly returned to the forbidden scroll _. 'Alright well, I should probably just put this thing away before someone shows up. I can always come back and see what else is on it later if I need to. Let's see how many jutsus did I get here? Kage Bunshin…man I hate clones, but I guess it's something. What's this one…Flying Raijin?! Isn't that Yondaime's technique?! Sweet I definitely want to learn that! I don't know what this Edo Tensei thing is supposed to be, but it looks like some type of summoning maybe? I guess that's a good start. Is there anything else on here even worth coming back for? Wait…what the hell is that?!'_ Naruto's eyes shot open in disbelief when he spotted a symbol on the scroll that matched the one on his stomach.

' _Four Symbols Seal…why does it look like the markings on my body?!_ ' Naruto thought horrified. There was no description for this jutsu, but it greatly troubled the boy. He didn't get long to look at it when he heard footsteps coming from downstairs

He was immediately drawn from his thoughts when he heard the jonin from downstairs speak, "Where are you, kid? You need to go home. Nobody's allowed in the library after dark."

Without hesitation, Naruto immediately put the scroll back as best he could, even resetting its traps. He carefully concealed his copied jutsu scroll in his own pack and snuck back downstairs. Luckily for him, the Jounin that was looking for him didn't appear to be gifted in the art of detection as the boy miraculously came around a corner downstairs and unnoticed.

"You're quieter than I expected you'd be. I almost forgot you were still here. You gotta leave kid. Nobody stays after dark…Hokage's orders," the jonin stated calmly. He looked slightly on edge due to Naruto's unusual and unprecedented stealth. He didn't once take his eyes off the boy as Naruto left the library without a word.

Even without looking, Naruto could sense the man going upstairs to check on the scroll. He quickened his pace shortly afterward, _'I'm glad I decided to copy it down instead of taking it…that guy looked like he was onto me for a minute.'_

Once he was clear, Naruto immediately bolted for the forest, where he could try practicing some of the jutsus in peace. It didn't take him long to find an isolated clearing as he touched down near a tree and began to read over the first copied jutsu.

' _Alright, shadow clones huh? I suck at making clones…but if it was on that scroll then maybe it's strong or something,'_ Naruto thought to himself as he worked out how to do it.

After a few minutes of trial and error, he let out an annoyed sigh, "Alright, here goes again…Kage Bunshin no jutsu! (Shadow clone jutsu)."

To his utter astonishment, he created almost a dozen perfect clones of himself. He looked around at them disbelievingly, "What?! How come this one was easier than regular clones?"

Naruto shook his head confused as he immediately dispelled the clones a moment later, _'That was strange. I can't believe I made more than one of them too. I wonder what's different about shadow clones? I didn't expect that to be so easy…well let's see if I can have any luck with these other two.'_

He spent the next hour trying to figure out the Flying Raijin jutsu, but couldn't even begin to understand how it worked. The Flying Thunder God jutsu was frustratingly difficult to comprehend as it required one to understand seals and be adept with sensory abilities…something Naruto had very little experience with at his young age.

' _So, I mark a location with a seal that I create with my chakra and then what?'_ he thought confused as he tried to copy the one, he had written down.

' _I should come back to this. I don't have any idea where to start with this one,'_ Naruto thought frustrated.

He then moved onto the third technique, which was also the last one he managed to copy before putting the scroll back. _'Alright, Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei…let's see. This one doesn't make any sense. Summoning resurrection? I guess I have to draw out this summoning circle first. I wonder what it supposed to summon?'_

Due to his inability to fully create a summoning circle with chakra yet, Naruto painstakingly drew out some of the design as best he could on the ground with a nearby stick. He attempted to pour forth chakra into it a moment later causing the lines to darken as if they were written in ink. Afterward, he looked at his nearby scroll for the hand signs.

' _I guess I have to get them all without messing this up,'_ he thought to himself. Naruto memorized the hand signs as best he could while going through them at a decently steady pace. Even though he eventually got the hang of doing them, nothing would happen.

He failed for over half an hour trying to do them, but eventually he succeeded causing a reaction. To his astonishment, the lines he drew out in the dirt turned fully black and many additional seal symbols surrounded it. A bright and unholy glow briefly illuminated the circle, but then nothing happened.

Naruto looked at it confused, _'What the hell? Did it work? What's this stupid jutsu supposed to even do anyways?!'_

He looked at the complex writings and reread some of it, _'DNA, blood? Oh that makes sense! I think summons need blood to work, right? Well here goes nothing…'_

Naruto bit his thumb to draw blood and pressed it down towards the summoning circle. Once again nothing happened. Frustrated with his failure, he threw down his pack and growled in annoyance. The happuri that he had stolen from the library flew out of his pack upon doing so and landed dead center in the summoning circle.

A moment later, Naruto felt a horrible sensation wash over him as his chakra began to drain painfully. The circle then glowed again as an ethereal figure took shape within its center. A panicking sensation washed over him as Naruto felt himself being dragged closer towards the center of the circle.

He immediately tried to scratch apart the edges of the summoning circle as it slowly dragged him in. This seemed somewhat effective as he managed to break free of whatever invisible force was pulling him. Without hesitation, he immediately dove further away and turned back to look at the summoning circle.

' _What was that?! That jutsu was going to kill me!'_ Naruto thought horrified as the revelation hit him full force.

The circle shortly vanished a moment later, but Naruto was surprised to see the ethereal figure in its center still standing there. He looked at it confused as he risked approaching again. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the figure was actually a man.

He had spiky white hair, blue armor, and three red markings on his face. The happuri that Naruto had stolen from earlier was gone now, but the man appeared to be wearing one. The blonde gawked at the glowing man as he got even closer.

The white-haired man glanced around with confusion before looking at his hands. He spoke aloud, "Is this Edo Tensei? No…I don't have a body. This is unusual."

It was finally at this point that Naruto realized the man was actually a ghost. He let out a gasp of horror, "W-what the hell?!"

The white-haired man turned his auburn red eyes upon Naruto seriously, "A boy? Are you the summoner, child?!"

"Summoner? I…I just tried to cast a jutsu. Who are you?" Naruto asked disbelievingly.

"Tobirama Senju…Nidaime Hokage and inventor of the jutsu you just attempted to do," he answered with stern stoicism.

"Nidaime?! No way…how are you here, aren't you dead? Are you a ghost or something?!" Naruto bellowed.

The stern man shook his head, "I suppose that is accurate…without a sacrifice, I don't have an actual body, but you still pulled my spirit here from what I have gathered. I don't know how…"

"I…I did?! What was that Edo Tensei jutsu supposed to do anyways?" Naruto asked shocked.

Tobirama facepalmed at Naruto as an audible sigh escaped him, "You must be joking…how did you even manage to do the jutsu if you had no clue what it was or who I am?"

"I found it on some forbidden scroll and wrote it down. I…what's it supposed to do anyway?" Naruto asked again.

The Nidaime deadpanned at Naruto, "Summoning resurrection…it's meant to bring back the dead as a zombie. You're saying you learned this jutsu from the forbidden Scroll of Seals? How did a child like you manage to acquire it? It should be under guard by elite Konoha shinobi."

"Edo Tensei…brings back the dead?" Naruto gasped as he ignored the Nidaime's question.

"Edo Tensei creates a zombie with unlimited chakra that is bound to the will of the caster. It's a forbidden jutsu that I developed when I was still alive. It requires the DNA of the person you are attempting to resurrect and a living sacrifice. Since you didn't offer a sacrifice, you only pulled my spirit here. I take it you must have had some trace DNA of mine to make it activate halfway," Tobirama clarified.

"Well I found this happuri and it fell out of my pack into the circle when I threw it. Next thing I know, the jutsu activated, and the circle tried to suck me in," Naruto elaborated.

The hokage sighed, "How would it still have trace DNA of mine? Strange…maybe some hairs were preserved. My happuri's chakra seals were specially made…I never considered this possibility."

"So if the jutsu needed a sacrifice, was it going to kill me?" Naruto asked.

"Without a sacrifice, Edo Tensei will usually siphon the life force from the summoner. I'm honestly amazed you didn't die from it. How a boy like you managed to acquire my scroll and perform an incomplete Edo Tensei is beyond me. Are you even a shinobi? I see no distinctive symbols on your attire other than those swirls…and what is with that ridiculous outfit?" Tobirama asked.

Naruto looked at the man nervously, "Well…I'm in the Konoha academy if that counts. And what's wrong with my outfit anyway?!"

"How do you expect to be a proper shinobi when your clothes make you visible from kilometers away? We're in a forest...why are you wearing orange?!" Tobirama asked shaking his head.

"I…it's not that bad! Besides, maybe I want to stick out! I'm tired of people ignoring me!" Naruto countered.

"So, you're just a brat seeking attention then? How times have changed…peace brings weakness and ignorance unfortunately." Tobirama sighed.

"Hey, who are you calling a brat?! I'm standing right here! Also, I'm not weak!" he shouted.

Tobirama stared at him with icy eyes, "You say you're in the Shinobi academy? Standards must have plummeted if that's the case. You lack the bearing of a Shinobi. Plus a boy your age should already be a genin."

"What?! But I'm only 10 though!" Naruto protested.

"I suppose they don't allow early graduations during peacetime..." Tobirama said to himself as he put a hand on his chin.

"If I'm so bad, then how did I manage to learn the shadow clone jutsu in the scroll or summon you here? I'm not a failure…I don't care what you or anyone else says!" Naruto bellowed proudly.

"I suppose it must have taken some skill to even reach the scroll, let alone learn shadow clones. What I'm curious about is how did you even have enough chakra to perform Edo Tensei? What's your name?" the man almost demanded.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" the blonde announced proudly to the ghost.

Tobirama's eyes widened slightly, "An Uzumaki? Hmmm…that would explain your chakra level and those swirls on your clothing. I knew I sensed a familiarity about you. Still…you look nothing like an Uzumaki Clan member to me."

"There's an Uzumaki Clan?!" Naruto asked with amazement.

"Yes, they're related to the Senju Clan and were our strongest allies. They originally came from Uzushiogakure and were renowned for their sealing techniques. Their members all have vast chakra pools and strong affinities for multiple elemental natures…just like Senjus. My brother Hashirama married their royal heir and all of his descendants are related to your clan," the Nidaime continued.

"I don't look like an Uzumaki? What do Uzumaki clan members look like then?! And are we seriously related to the Senju Clan?!" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Almost all of the pure-blooded ones have dark red hair. It's a distinctive feature of the clan. Though I believe Hashirama's granddaughter was blonde. Do either of your parents have red hair?" Tobirama asked.

Naruto was silent for a moment as he took in the information with both amazement and a bit of sadness. He spoke slowly, "I don't know…I'm an orphan. I've never met my parents."

"And you've never seen another Uzumaki either?" Tobirama asked for confirmation.

The young blonde nodded sadly, "Yeah…I've never had a family."

"Both of my parents and two of my brothers died in war before I was even a man. When I was your age, I had already killed, and I watched many of my clan members die. The world isn't a nice place, so don't go acting sad and expecting sympathy from me. Your moping won't change the fact that you're an orphan. Accept it for what it is and become stronger in spite of it. That is the way of a Shinobi," Tobirama remarked mercilessly when he saw Naruto's distraught emotional face.

The blonde boy didn't know how to react to Tobirama's somewhat cruel words. He held his head down and spoke angrily, "I'm not moping!"

"Good…it doesn't accomplish anything. That aside, I am curious about something Naruto Uzumaki. How did you acquire my Scroll of Seals? Do you still have it?" Tobirama broke the silence after an awkward moment.

"No, it's still in the Hokage Tower. I just copied down three jutsus from it. Kage Bunshin, Flying Raijin, and Edo Tensei," Naruto answered.

The Nidaime crossed his arms, "And you only learned Shadow Clones from it? Why would you dabble with a forbidden scroll? It's forbidden for a reason."

"I want to get stronger…" Naruto answered slowly.

"Why? Power without purpose is meaningless vanity…and you're only a child," Tobirama responded sharply.

Naruto looked up with determination filling his blue eyes, "I want to become Hokage! I want to get stronger, but nobody will train me or help me. Everyone treats me badly or ignores me! They all think I'm dumb or some kind of monster. Hell, people even call me demon brat sometimes. I just want to earn people's respect."

"You want to be the Hokage? Do you even know what you're saying?! Being Hokage isn't just some glamorous position where people respect you. It's a responsibility to be the strongest Shinobi in the village and to be its last line of defense. You have no idea what it takes to shoulder that kind of responsibility. This isn't some pipe dream, boy, it's a burden that the strong must bear! You have to be willing to sacrifice everything and die for it. My brother did and so did I...that's what it takes to be Hokage!" Tobirama growled in annoyance.

The Nidaime's words hit Naruto hard as he held his head down shamefully again. Something about Tobirama's brutal honesty was really hard for him to swallow. Naruto looked up again and gritted his teeth, "Then teach me how to become stronger…nobody else will!"

Tobirama gawked at him somewhat surprised, "Teach you? In case you've forgotten, Uzumaki boy, I am a spirit. The only interaction I can have with this world is through your chakra."

"So what? You can still show me things and tell me how to do stuff right? Besides, what else are you going to do? Stay dead?" Naruto wondered.

The white haired Hokage paused for a moment as he kept his arms crossed, "I can release this incomplete Edo Tensei of yours any time I wish. Give me one good reason to train you besides you wanting to be Hokage."

"C'mon, please Nidaime?!" Naruto pleaded with frustration.

"Nidaime-sama…show the proper respect to your elders, Naruto-san," Tobirama corrected him.

The blonde shook his head, "I'm tired of being the laughing stock of the Konoha Academy! I can't stand everyone thinking I'm weak and praising that smug Uchiha bastard!"

Tobirama's eyes widened at the mention of _Uchiha_. He stared at Naruto intensely, "What's this about an Uchiha?"

"This guy in my class…he's from the Uchiha Clan, and everyone praises him for being so good. He always talks down to me and I'm sick of it!" Naruto explained.

The Nidaime lightened up for the first time as he raised a brow at Naruto, "That's as good a reason as any. Fine then…I will train you Naruto-san."

"Wait…you will?! Why the change of heart, Nidaime? I didn't think that was a good reason." Naruto gasped.

"You will refer to me as Nidaime-sama or I will revoke my offer," Tobirama stated sternly.

Naruto instantly bowed his head, "Forgive me, Nidaime-sama, but why are you willing to train me now?"

"I'm doing it so that you can properly rival this Uchiha boy. Members of their clan tend to act condescending unless they are regularly put in their place. It would do him some good to learn humility if he's as smug as you claim," Tobirama answered.

The blonde boy beamed with excitement, "When do we start then?! The sooner I can become stronger that Sasuke-teme, the better!"

"Since my spirit is bound to you now, I will come and go as I please. For the record, only you should be able to see me. I will train you on the condition that you obey my orders no matter what. Do you agree?" Tobirama asked seriously.

"I do!" Naruto answered immediately.

"You break this promise one time, and I will leave…understood?"

"Yes, Nidaime-sama!" Naruto replied respectfully.

"Very well, start off by filling me in on current events. Who is the Hokage right now?" Tobirama asked.

"Old man Sandaime. Hiruzen Sarutobi is his full name I think, though I don't know anyone that calls him that. Gramps took over again after Yondaime died I think," Naruto replied.

Tobirama placed a hand to his chin, "Young Hiruzen is still alive? You say he is an old man? It must have been many decades since my death then. He was one of my students."

"Hey, so if you're going to train me, then can you help me learn this Flying Raijin Jutsu?" Naruto asked.

Tobirama shook his head, "Hiraishin is one of the most advanced jutsus I ever created. You would also need some skill as a sensory ninja and competency in Fuinjutsu to even begin to understand it. I will teach it to you when you become more proficient as a shinobi."

"What does it do anyway?" Naruto asked.

"It allowed me to instantly teleport wherever I placed a seal. There is no limit to the amount of seals one could place, but it requires high chakra control and extreme focus to move oneself or objects between space-time. You essentially summon yourself or objects to your seals. It's well suited for sensory ninjas since they can detect every location and enemy on a battlefield and teleport around them," Tobirama elaborated briefly.

"So I need to be a sensory ninja to do it?" Naruto asked.

"If you ever hope to be competent enough to use it effectively, then yes. We will have to develop your own sensory skills and you must master your chakra control. After that you can learn Fuinjutsu, and then you will be able to learn Hiraishin. However, you really should start by learning basic jutsus first. Unfortunately, that's also going to have to wait for a later date," Tobirama trailed off in sentence.

"Why?! I'll learn anything you can teach me right now!" he exclaimed with reassurance.

"The problem is your chakra level. From what I can sense of you and what I know of Uzumakis, you have enormous chakra reserves. While that is a good thing, it is extremely debilitating for one's chakra control. That is without a doubt the best place to start with your training," he noted.

"Okay, so how do I improve my chakra control?" Naruto asked.

Tobirama looked at a nearby pond, "Can you walk on water yet?"

"What?! Of course I can!" he said strongly.

"I want you to start by doing pushups on the water's surface," he said calmly.

"Piece of cake," Naruto responded eagerly as he charged over towards the pond and on to its surface.

He immediately dropped into a front leaning rest position and began to do pushups on the water's surface.

"Give me 1,000 to start," Tobirama remarked with intensity as he came over the water to watch Naruto train.

The blonde had barely made it to one hundred pushups before he felt himself tiring out. Keeping himself from falling in while doing an exercise took a lot more focus than he was expecting. He stopped pushing for a moment and looked over at Tobirama seriously, "Did you just say 1,000?"

"Do it or I'll leave…remember the deal. I don't want to waste my time with a quitter." Tobirama threatened him.

Afraid of losing his new ghost sensei, Naruto kept pushing. He felt his muscles cramping as he got to around two hundred pushups and before he could react, his body plummeted into the pond.

"You owe me 798 still, Naruto-san…" Tobirama announced as Naruto shot back out of the water and stood on its surface.

He was soaked and more than little tired as he panted heavily. The blonde boy caught his breath and spoke urgently, "I…just need a break."

"Do you think your little Uchiha friend is having a break right now? You want to be better than him? Then train harder than he does. You get what you put into yourself. He will have the Sharingan if he's even halfway competent as an Uchiha…you will have no way to combat that unless you're smarter, stronger, faster, and better than he is at everything," Tobirama growled.

"You don't think this is a bit much for me? I mean we're just starting. It's impossible to do that much at my current level and…" Naruto trailed off.

"If it was easy, then everyone would do it! Do you really want to be the Hokage? Then earn it boy! Nobody in this world owes you anything! Only mediocre people believe in overtraining. Day one is the best time to break your old habits. Succeed or fail...the choice is yours." The white-haired hokage stated with aggression.

Naruto's resolve was renewed as he got back down, "I won't quit! I won't!"

"That remains to be seen…" Tobirama said distantly as Naruto continued. He fell into the pond many more times but kept getting back up and continuing.

This type of training went on for many hours into the night with Tobirama forcing Naruto to do strange exercises ranging from tree climbing, to water surface calisthenics. It was finally well past midnight before Tobirama stopped.

"A very light first day of training, but it should give you insight into what is to come. Rest, Naruto-san…we will resume your training tomorrow," Tobirama said calmly as a sore and exhausted Naruto struggled to stand up.

"There's something I wanted to ask you, Nidaime-sama…" Naruto spoke up after catching his breath.

"What?" the white-haired man asked.

Naruto paused as he unzipped his jacket and lifted up his shirt. He pointed at the seal on his stomach, "What is this symbol on my body? I saw it in your scroll…it was called the Four Symbols Seal I think."

Tobirama's eyes widened with disbelief, "That's the same seal Mito Uzumaki had…"

"Who?" Naruto asked confused.

"My brother's wife, Mito Uzumaki was a jinchuuriki. That seal on your stomach is an Uzumaki technique used for sealing away a powerful creature. If you have the Uzumaki one, then I wouldn't doubt if it was a Bijuu sealed within your body," Tobirama answered.

"A Bijuu? What's a bijuu?" Naruto asked bewildered.

"It's a tailed beast…From what I recall, the Uzumaki Clan was given the Kyuubi for safe keeping. Mito was its host and I believe one of her great grandchildren was chosen to become the next host. You must have been the next host after that one if my timeline is correct," Tobirama trailed off in sentence.

Naruto was a bit shocked by this news as he spoke fearfully, "What does that mean then?!"

"It means you're a jinchuuriki…" Tobirama answered bluntly.

"Is that why all the villagers hate me?! I have that monster fox sealed in my body?!" Naruto thought petrified by the thought.

"The Kyuubi is not exactly a monster, but it is a very dangerous and hateful creature. Madara Uchiha used it to attack Konoha a long time ago. The fact that you are its jinchuuriki is an even greater reason for me to train you. The nine tails must not be allowed into enemy hands. You becoming strong is a high priority for the village's safety," Tobirama noted.

"Everyone in Konoha hates the nine tails though! It killed so many people…y-you're saying it's inside of me?! How?!" Naruto said with an emotional tone.

"In my lifetime, knowledge of the Kyuubi was only exclusive to the Senju, Uzumaki, and Uchiha Clans. How would common villagers know about it?" Tobirama asked curiously.

"The Kyuubi attacked the village ten years ago on October 10th…it nearly destroyed the village, but the Yondaime stopped it somehow," the boy tried to clarify.

Tobirama sighed, "So he sealed it inside of you I take it? That would imply he had knowledge on the Uzumaki Fuinjutsu…he certainly had a connection to them. Interesting…I knew I sensed something strange about your chakra. I will gather the rest of this information on my own. Go home, Naruto-san. We will train again tomorrow."

"Wait, where will you be? How can I find you?" Naruto asked.

"I'll find you…" Tobirama replied before disappearing.

After he was gone, Naruto figured he had no other option left but to go home to his shabby, run-down apartment. His mind couldn't get the news of him being a jinchuuriki out of his head. He felt himself sink into a deep depression as he looked around at his broken down, empty home.

' _So that's why I have to live like this…that's why they hate me?'_ Naruto thought sadly.

Despite his racing mind, he was too exhausted to remain conscious for very long. Upon reaching his bed, Naruto immediately plummeted onto it and was asleep within seconds.

 **Naruto's Mindscape**

The young jinchuuriki awoke in a damp, dark sewer by the looks of it. He jerked upright with a panicked expression as he immediately assumed that he had been kidnapped. The energetic blonde cautiously searched around for a few minutes as he tried to remain quiet. He eventually decided to follow a path that led him deeper into the sewer.

To his astonishment, it did not smell bad, but the gloomy lighting was a bit unsettling as he drew nearer and nearer to an ominous and dark presence. Naruto's neck hairs stood on edge as he entered a massive chamber that had iron bars on the opposite end of the room.

On the iron cage, he saw a massive paper seal with the kanji for "Seal" written on it. Naruto cocked his head in confusion as he slowly approached the cage. As he got closer, he saw a pair of red slit eyes appear from the darkness in the cage.

Naruto stopped in his tracks as he stared into the eyes. He didn't know what to say to the creature on the other end of the iron bars or even if it was sentient enough to understand him. After a brief and very intimidating silence, the creature spoke, **"So…you're finally aware of me now?"**

The young boy was more than a little shocked by the beast speaking to him and tried to muster up the courage to respond, "W-who are you?"

Upon asking this question, Naruto saw the creature's silhouette come closer to the iron bars as its body shape came into view. It was a giant fox by the looks of it. Naruto immediately figured out what it was a moment later, "Y-you're the Kyuubi?"

" **Yes, and you are my jinchuuriki as you have just recently learned. I must say that I'm more than a little surprised by your recent actions. Initially, I assumed you were a clueless failure, but your ambition and success in learning from the forbidden Scroll of Seals was an interesting turn of events,"** Kyuubi replied calmly.

"You saw that?!" Naruto gasped.

" **I see everything that you do…though I tend to ignore the mundane activities of your life. However, you caught my interest with your behavior tonight,"** the giant fox replied.

The boy looked up at it with disbelief, "So where am I then?"

" **This is your inner mind and body where I am sealed. I brought you here tonight so that I could explain a few things to you,"** Kyuubi began.

Naruto looked at the fox uncertainly, "Yeah? Like what? Why are you sealed inside of me anyways? Why did you attack Konoha 10 years ago?"

" **I am sealed within you because the Yondaime Hokage wasn't able to stop me. As for why I attacked Konoha…that is a matter you do not have the mental capacity to understand,"** Kyuubi answered.

"But…you killed a bunch of people! Why?!" Naruto protested.

Kyuubi growled threateningly as red chakra began to flood out of the cage, **"I don't have the patience or the desire to explain myself to some brat like you. What's done is done, and now I am a prisoner within your body."**

"Nidaime-sama said that you were sealed in some people before me. Who? Do you know anything about my clan?" Naruto decided to test his luck and ask.

The fox sighed, **"Your clan's members are the only ones with bodies strong enough to contain my full power. My first host was Mito Uzumaki…then there was Kushina Uzumaki…and now there's you…Naruto Uzumaki."**

"What can you tell me about your previous jinchuuriki? What does it mean to be one?" Naruto asked.

" **Being a jinchuuriki is a curse for any human. You are seen as dangerous monsters that could transform into the bijuu you contain at any moment. This is actually true for a weak-willed jinchuuriki. I would almost pity your existence if I wasn't trapped inside of you,"** Kyuubi answered unhappily.

Naruto stared at the fox for a moment and frowned, "I guess this is just as bad for you as it is for me then? Maybe worse…"

" **I'm surprised you would even consider my opinion on the matter considering I'm just the monster that attacked Konoha,"** the fox replied dryly.

"Can you please tell me why you did it? I'm willing to hear you out," Naruto asked persuasively.

Kyuubi looked annoyed at his question, **"Spare me the feigned empathy…you couldn't possibly understand me or my motivations. You're just a child."**

"I know what it's like for people to see you as something you're not. I'm giving you a chance to explain yourself to me, fox," Naruto shot back.

After a long pause, the nine tails sighed, **"A man with an orange mask unsealed me from my previous host Kushina Uzumaki. He put me under the effect of the Sharingan and under his direct control. The Yondaime managed to break his hold over me, but once I had regained my mind, I went on a rampage. I loathe your village and its continued abuse of my power! I sought to wipe out the village because its inhabitants have consistently tried to enslave me."**

"What? An Uchiha managed to control you with their Sharingan?!" Naruto gasped.

" **Mangekyo Sharingan…and yes. It has happened to me twice now. The first time was when Madara Uchiha used me to fight Hashirama Senju in the Valley of the End. I escaped their battle, but the first hokage eventually caught me and sealed me into his wife. Before she died, Mito Uzumaki had me sealed into her Great granddaughter Kushina Uzumaki,"** the Kyuubi elaborated.

"So then, you're innocent?" Naruto asked almost disbelievingly.

Kyuubi scoffed at him, **"Hardly…I would have destroyed Konoha had the Yondaime not stopped me."**

"I suppose I couldn't blame you. I would hate to be used as a tool like that and forced into a cage. You're not evil…you were just angry. You just wanted to be free," Naruto said sadly.

The fox looked at him somewhat shocked, **"Really? You truly believe I was justified? That surprises me greatly that you even have the ability to see my point of view."**

"Honestly, the more I hear, the more I understand. You sound a lot like me," Naruto trailed off sadly.

" **Like you?! How am I like you?! Don't insult me!"** Kyuubi growled with annoyance.

"You're lonely and sad too…there's only so much of that a person can take before they get angry at the world. Honestly, I feel that way about the village sometimes…about the way they hate me for no reason. Is that what you had to deal with all the time before getting sealed away?" Naruto spoke softly.

The fox calmed down a moment later and looked away, **"You presume much to think I share such feeble emotions with you. I don't care for such things. I'm not some pathetic human."**

"Surely you must have cared about someone or something once, right?" Naruto asked.

Kyuubi looked away somewhat sadly much to Naruto's surprise. The fox didn't respond to him as the boy stared blankly.

"I don't know what it means to be a jinchuuriki, and I'm sorry you have to be imprisoned inside of me, Kyuubi…but thanks for talking to me. You might laugh at this, but maybe we can be friends?" Naruto suggested hopefully.

" **You would be friends with the bijuu that tried to kill everyone in your village? Are you slow in the head?"** Kyuubi scoffed.

"I don't really have anyone else…so yeah I would," Naruto replied.

The fox scoffed at him, **"Don't go assuming such childish things. I will be civil you, but I will not humor such pathetic aspirations."**

"Well we're both stuck with each other, so what could it hurt right? Besides, you don't seem evil to me…plus Nidaime-sama said you weren't evil either. Maybe it is childish, but I could use a friend…even if he is a giant, angry fox." Naruto countered.

" **You're being serious right now?! I'm the reason your village hates you…has that escaped your mind?"** Kyuubi asked disbelievingly.

"So what? Do you hate me?" Naruto countered.

The nine tails growled, **"No, but I don't like you either."**

"Well that's a start at least," the young boy said optimistically.

His genuine desire to befriend the fox was very unusual to the bijuu. Kyuubi seemed less hostile from Naruto's lack of hate and sighed, **"We'll see how this goes…at least you're already more tolerable than my last two jinchuuriki were. I wasn't expecting that…"**

"So what happens now? Why did you want to talk with me here, anyway?" Naruto changed the subject after an awkward silence.

" **Listen, Naruto Uzumaki…I am willing to be more proactive in helping you develop your power under one condition,"** Kyuubi said seriously.

Naruto perked up, "What condition?"

" **You help me kill the Uchiha that enslaved me with his Sharingan 10 years ago,"** Kyuubi said seriously.

Naruto seemed a bit put off at the notion of killing someone, but recently hardened by Tobirama's words, Naruto nodded, "I will, Kyuubi. You have my word."

" **Then it's a deal. Also, now that we've met, I opened a psychic link between us. I will be able to speak with you while you're awake…so don't act alarmed if you start hearing my voice in your head,"** Kyuubi explained almost eagerly.

"I guess I'll see you around then, Kyuubi…" Naruto said somewhat uncertainly.

" **Train hard under the Senju Hokage. He is an expert at defeating Uchihas and will prove to be an excellent trainer for you. I will help you out as well in due time. Now, get some sleep, Naruto…** " the fox spoke one last time before Naruto's vision went black and he felt himself drift back to sleep.

 **Konoha Shinobi Academy, the next day**

After waking up the next day, Naruto hurried to class. He had overslept and was about to be late. Fate seemed to be working against him today as he made it to class after Iruka. Bolting into the classroom, he quickly caught his breath.

"Naruto, you're late!" Iruka announced scornfully as the energetic blonde approached.

"Sorry Iruka-sensei, I overslept…" Naruto tried to explain.

"Overslept? That's the work ethic of a great shinobi isn't it class?" Mizuki asked the rest of the class causing a number of them to laugh or agree with the chunin.

"That loser wants to be Hokage and he can't even make it to class on time, hahaha!" Kiba erupted into laughter.

Iruka eyed Naruto somewhat curiously. The blonde boy appeared far less hyperactive than he was used to seeing and more than a little worn out. He spoke slowly, "Are you alright, Naruto?"

"I'm fine, sensei…I just had a long night. It won't happen again," he said as respectfully as he could before moving to his seat. The blonde didn't even react to any of his classmates' comments or jokes. It was as if they weren't even there to him.

Iruka and some of the other students were more than a little shocked by Naruto's shift in attitude. Iruka quickly pushed his curiosity aside as he addressed the class, "Alright class, well now that we're all here-"

Naruto didn't hear the rest of Iruka's words when he spotted Tobirama's spirit standing next to him in the classroom. He looked over with shock, _'What the hell is he doing here?'_

" _Pay attention to your studies, Naruto-san…while it is basic, the fundamentals and history they teach here is important. I will test your knowledge on the subject material later. Should you fail, I will punish you with more physical training. As my father once told me: 'You're going to be smart or you're going to be tough. Preferably you'll be both,'"_ Tobirama's ghost spoke to Naruto.

His voice sounded almost echoic, but a quick look around the room confirmed to Naruto that nobody else could see Tobirama.

Horrified at the prospect of "extra" training from the man, Naruto focused intensely on Iruka as he paid attention to everything being taught. This continued for the entire day with mostly academic studies. He paid no attention to his classmates as he fully enveloped himself in the study material.

After class was finally over, Naruto was the last one outside of the school. He spotted a crowd of his female classmates ogling Sasuke Uchiha like classic school girls. He sent a sharp glare Sasuke's way which seemed to draw the Uchiha's gaze.

Some of the fangirls quickly became aware of Naruto's presence due to Sasuke's attention on him. A certain pink-haired girl yelled loudly, "Why are you glaring at Sasuke-kun like that, Naruto?!"

The Uchiha immediately turned to leave when it became apparent that he was looking. Many fangirls attempted to pursue him, but he quickly left them in the dust as he bolted away.

After his departure, Naruto heard Tobirama's voice, "That boy is the splitting image of Izuna Uchiha…if I didn't know any better, I'd swear they were the same person. He's your Uchiha rival I take it?"

"Yeah…" Naruto answered bluntly.

"He looks arrogant...but also driven. He has the face of a boy that has seen trauma," Tobirama stated.

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah, well I heard his clan was wiped out by his older brother who went rogue...it still doesn't excuse his condescending attitude though."

"The Uchiha Clan was wiped out?" Tobirama asked shocked.

The blonde boy nodded, "Well, everyone except Sasuke I think."

"Hmph...and by one of their own too? I'm not surprised. Their clan is stained with evil and power-hungry kinslayers. They were never truly content with their lot in Konoha," Tobirama sighed.

"Do you dislike the Uchiha Clan, Nidaime-sama? You sure sound like you don't." Naruto wondered as he examined his ghost-sensei's bitter face.

Tobirama crossed his arms, "That is a difficult question to answer, Naruto-san. My clan was at war with the Uchihas for most of my early life. They killed my parents and both of my younger brothers. I never forgave the ones that survived the war. That being said, I do not bear ill will towards the Uchihas born in later generations. They do not deserve to carry the sins of their forefathers. They are all innocent in my eyes. I have always tried to be accommodating towards them and I appointed them as the Konoha Police force because it was a position well suited for them. Admittedly, I kept them out of village politics, but that was out of practicality and not spite. In hindsight it was probably a mistake. Before he died, Hashirama told me that I should marry an Uchiha to truly solidify peace between our clans. I had actually considered it, but I died before that could happen. To answer your question, I don't hate the Uchihas, but I never trusted them. They have always justified my suspicions with all of the atrocious things they've done. A shame really...it was Hashirama's dream that they could one day truly integrate into the village. Perhaps they could have had I brought our clan lines together. That is actually one of my biggest regrets as Hokage."

"Wow..." was all Naruto could say in response. Even despite his young age, he could somewhat understand Tobirama's feelings on the matter. He didn't get to linger on his thoughts for long as Tobirama began walking a moment later.

"There is no point in dwelling on this anymore. We have work to do. Follow me, Naruto-san. There's a special training location that I want to show you." Tobirama stated as Naruto headed into the forest to train.

 **Deep in the Forest**

"Just how far out do we have to go?" Naruto asked as Tobirama stopped in a distant clearing. He had led Naruto along a strange and somewhat hidden path behind a number of unusual landmarks and through a thick network of trees.

"We're a considerable distance away from the village. This should be a safe enough place to train your abilities without catching any attention. I noticed quite a few Anbu watching you while you were in the village. They won't usually take this route if you go through this way, and you will be undetectable in this part of the forest," Tobirama explained.

"Where is this place anyway?" Naruto wondered.

"This place is called the Senju Grove…to be honest I'm amazed it's still hidden. It looks untouched…that's good," Tobirama stated as he looked around the area.

"Senju grove? I've never heard of this place. Why is it all the way out here?" Naruto asked.

Tobirama turned to face him, "This place is where my brothers and I used to train as children. I often sparred with Itama, Kawarama, and Hashirama here. This grove is protected by natural energy…it's very sacred. My brother called this place the Grove of Sages…though our clan knew it simply as the Senju Grove. You will be undetectable here from most things…including Hiruzen's scrying orb."

"Old man Sandaime's scrying orb?" Naruto tilted his head confused.

The Nidaime shook his head, "Nevermind…just know that nobody will find you here so long as you follow the exact path that I showed you. When my Brother and I founded Konoha and established its infrastructure, we never listed this place anywhere. It's one of our clan's best kept and few remaining secrets."

"Cool! So I can come here anytime I want?!" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Yes, but I would advise you to not linger here for more than a day or so at a time. I learned a decent bit about you while you were asleep. Since you are a jinchuuriki, Hiruzen takes special interest in watching over your progress. You want to _keep up appearances_ as it were by going home each night…" Tobirama elaborated.

"Huh?" Naruto looked confused.

Tobirama faced the blonde boy with a stern expression, "What I'm saying is nobody can be allowed to know about this place or your training…"

"What!? But why!? I want to get stronger, so I can beat Sasuke-teme and show old man Sandaime that I'm Hokage material!" Naruto protested.

"Listen, Naruto-san…a Shinobi's greatest weapon is not Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, or Genjutsu. It isn't some special weapon or bloodline either. Your greatest weapon is the art of surprise. Speaking from experience, I find that it is best to strike with your full power after you have fooled your enemy into believing they are victorious. They lower their guard when they think they've won…when they think you are weaker than them. That is when a foe is most vulnerable. This training isn't for your ego boosting! This isn't so you can show off for a bunch of airhead school girls! It's so that you can have the weapons and the ability to use appropriate force when necessary. I don't recommend building a reputation until after you have developed your skills…otherwise you'll only become a target and lose your element of surprise," Tobirama lectured sternly.

"So you're saying I shouldn't use anything that you teach me?!" Naruto asked shocked.

The Nidaime crossed his arms, "Precisely, Naruto-san...at least not yet. You're actually in a great position doing this. Your classmates and teachers all assume you're a weak, incompetent fool. If you maintain some of that façade and secretly enhance your power, then you will gain an advantage over everyone. When the time comes, you can reveal your power, but for now you must respect the art of subtlety and stealth…of discipline and humility. You need those things too."

"Well how exactly am I supposed to sneak away to this place if old man Sandaime is able to watch me then?" Naruto wondered.

Tobirama's lip slightly twitched upward. It was probably the closest thing to a smile Naruto was ever going to see. The Nidaime spoke slowly, "You will leave a shadow clone in Konoha to throw off your spies. Nobody is aware that you have this ability…so it will be perfect for the situation."

"A shadow clone? But how will that work? What if someone touches it and realizes it isn't me?" Naruto asked.

Tobirama facepalmed as an audible sigh escaped him, "A shadow clone is a physical clone of oneself. When one creates a shadow clone, it takes a portion of his chakra and is typically divided among all shadow clones created. Each time a shadow clone is dispelled, you will gain the memories and experiences of the shadow clone. You will also gain its exhaustion, which can be dangerous for someone with low chakra reserves. I don't see that being a problem for you however."

"That makes sense I guess…so what happens if I train with a bunch of shadow clones doing the same thing then?" Naruto wondered.

"Training with shadow clones is a dangerous thing to attempt, but you have enough chakra to do it without killing yourself. It will expedite the training process and help you learn jutsus far quicker than normal," Tobirama explained.

Naruto nodded eagerly, "So then what about the clone I leave in Konoha? How will that work?"

"I would put extra chakra into your decoy shadow clone just so that it doesn't dispel from any light damage. Due to the nature of training at the Shinobi academy, I doubt you will be able to substitute a clone for your school hours anytime soon. Nevertheless, the clone can cover most of your free time when you're away. I wouldn't recommend leaving it overnight as it could dissipate when you sleep. We'll work on the schedule later, but that's how we'll keep your training a secret," the Nidaime continued.

"So you want me to pretend like I'm dumb at the academy then?" Naruto asked.

Tobirama shook his head, "No, don't continue being a fool. I expect a perfect graduation from you in three years. I'm just telling you to keep your head down and don't show off or pick fights. Keep your head down and grind."

"Ughh…so I have to bear with Sasuke-teme telling me I'm a loser and a failure for three more years!?" Naruto groaned.

Tobirama nodded, "Downplay yourself there, but don't be incompetent…just try to convince them that you're middle of the pack material."

"Alright, alright…if you insist," Naruto agreed.

"Good…" the white-haired man said with approval.

"Nidaime-sama, when do I get to learn elemental jutsus? I read something about certain shinobi having elemental affinities. Is there a way I can learn mine?" Naruto asked curiously.

Tobirama nodded, "Yes in fact, there is. Elemental affinities are typically shared by members of a clan…though specific individuals can excel at multiple affinities or even all of them on rare occasions. Young Hiruzen was one such person. It is one of the reasons I decided to train him."

"Alright, so how do I learn mine then?" Naruto asked anxiously.

The hokage made a gesture with his hand, "Hold your palm out like this and close your eyes."

Naruto did as he was told and outstretched his hand, "Okay, now what?"

"Even though I do not have a physical form, I am one of the best sensory ninjas to ever live. Channel forth any amount of chakra that you can into your hands. I will be able to detect its nature from there," Tobirama instructed.

Following his instruction, Naruto tried to focus chakra into his hand. Though he couldn't feel anything, Naruto noticed Tobirama's face change slightly.

"Hmm…you actually have trace amounts of all of them. That's surprising even for an Uzumaki," Tobirama noted.

Naruto's eyes lit up, "Really?! So I have an affinity for all of them like you and grandpa Hokage?!"

"Yes and no…your chakra nature is very diverse in its formation and development. To be honest it reminds me of my brother Hashirama's chakra. Your chakra is more like that of a Senju's than an Uzumaki's. You're definitely a descendant of both the Senju Clan and the Uzumaki Clan," Tobirama stated factually.

The jinchuuriki gave Tobirama a lost look, "Umm, so does that mean I can learn any elemental jutsu?"

"With enough hard work, you could learn any jutsu anyway…though your body's natural affinity for it will make learning them easier and your jutsus much more powerful. Both of your parents must have been good at wind chakra because that is your strongest affinity by a considerable margin. Uzumakis are typically strongest in water and wind, so that isn't surprising. After wind, you have an equally strong affinity for earth and water…I find it interesting how balanced they are. Hashirama's was the same way. Lightning and Fire are your weakest affinities," Tobirama noted.

Naruto cocked his head confused, "Does that mean I can't learn them?"

"I never said that, Naruto-san. Let me finish explaining. While Lightning and fire are much fainter in your chakra nature alignments, you still possess an affinity for them too. One of your parents must have had an affinity for lightning and fire, because they're both far above average in your chakra nature compared to regular shinobi. Your non Uzumaki parent might be where you inherited that. Granted I imagine those two will be more difficult for you to learn than the other three elements. Fire jutus were always my most difficult jutsus to learn as well since I was so highly attuned to water," Tobirama elaborated further.

"Alright, so when do I get to learn that stuff?" the blonde boy asked eagerly.

"I'll teach you basic elemental jutsus after you've perfected your chakra control. Ninjutsu is advanced, and a boy your age should master the basics before attempting something more complex. The quicker you learn, the sooner I will be able to teach you more advanced things…let that be an incentive to master everything quickly if you will," Tobirama spoke coolly as he paced around.

"Okay, well let's get started then!" Naruto announced with excitement.

"Before we begin, I want you to have something. Do you see the shrine over there?" Tobirama pointed towards a wooden building that looked covered in foliage and practically decayed at this point. Its stonework pathway was crumbling, but Naruto could still see that this long-abandoned shrine was miraculously intact.

Naruto turned towards the building and began to walk towards it alongside Tobirama. The Nidaime looked down at the boy a moment later, "I upkept this place during my life…and kept keepsakes of my dead clan members here. This shrine is a homage to their memories. Go inside."

Doing as he was told, the blonde passed into the crumbling building. He looked around at it and saw altars with names engraved on each of them. Some had trinkets and most of them had armor. Tobirama guided Naruto towards the very end, where he saw a chest.

It appeared to be made of wood and stone and was engraved with the Senju Clan symbol. Naruto read the inscription on it curiously, _'Itama Senju…'_

Tobirama spoke stoically, "Open it."

Upon sliding the stone lid off the chest, Naruto was amazed to see a variety of well-preserved items within it. Among them included a full set of black shinobi attire, a sword, and a traditional armor that looked similar to Tobirama's. This armor was green instead of blue however, which seemed to match the other ones he saw in the shrine.

"Everything in that chest now belongs to you," Tobirama stated as Naruto looked over a number of extra pieces of wargear.

While he was amazed by it, Naruto turned towards Tobirama confused, "Wait…this chest says Itama Senju. Isn't Itama your brother's name?"

"I'm surprised you remembered that. You have surprisingly good attention to detail despite your brash attitude. Yes, Itama was one of my younger brothers. He died when he was 10 years old…which is your current age. His attire will be more appropriate for you to wear, though I would not recommend donning the armor…at least not yet. Senju armor is very iconic, and it will draw unwanted attention to you. For your training here you should wear it, but leave the armor when you go home," the white-haired man replied.

Naruto's eyes widened with disbelief, "Why do you want me to wear your brother's stuff?!"

"After we established Konoha, I gathered up all the remains of dead Senju Clan members and I kept them all here as a shrine to their memory. Sadly, the decades since my death has seen this place collapse into decay. A price to pay for its secrecy I suppose. My brother's wargear serves no purpose rotting here. It is appropriately fitted to your current size and should also double as a reminder for what it means to be a Shinobi. Many others died for this peace you now live in, but you must protect it because there will always be another war to fight…and only through superior strength and cunning can you maintain any kind of lasting peace," Tobirama lectured.

Naruto nodded understandingly, "Thank you Nidaime-sama…I'll take good care of this stuff."

"Get changed and meet me outside as soon as possible. I want to see these shadow clones of yours," Tobirama ordered as he left the shrine.

The jinchuuriki wasted no time doing as he was told and put on the black shinobi attire. He wasn't as experienced on how to equip the armor but decided that could wait for another time.

As he bolted outside, he ran up to his ghost sensei. Tobirama's arms were crossed as he spoke, "Show me your shadow clones."

The boy nodded as he formed the cross seal with his hands, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (shadow clone jutsu)"

Tobirama watched with an unfazed reaction as a dozen clones of Naruto appeared all around him. He nodded his head in slight approval, "Good…each one of these clones is going to focus on a different exercise for your chakra control. Send one of them to Konoha to decoy the Anbu that are looking for you."

After careful explanation, Tobirama was able to show Naruto how to pool more chakra into specific clones. He sent one out of the forest and back to Konoha in order to draw away the recent suspicions of him. After that clone was gone, Tobirama had each of Naruto's remaining clones focusing on different chakra control exercises all around the grove. As the clones trained on chakra control, the real Naruto was instructed in the art of Kenjutsu by Tobirama.

Naruto's new sword wasn't special by any means, and it had no engravings. The only significance it had was the blade was once wielded by Tobirama's younger brother.

His training continued long into the night until it was well past dark. Exhausted beyond belief after all of his shadow clones dissipated, Naruto collapsed on the ground panting heavily.

He stared up at the stars with a hopeful expression on his face. He spoke aloud with genuine and true joy in his voice, "Finally, something to look forward to…"

"Go home and rest, Naruto-san…" Tobirama said distantly as the blonde managed to get up.

Naruto bowed his head respectfully, "See you tomorrow, Nidaime-sama!"

"You can call me Tobirama-sensei…we do share the same blood after all." the Nidaime replied.

"Really?!" Naruto said surprised.

The hokage nodded, "You are my student, so yes…keep up the good work, Naruto, and remember that the only easy day was yesterday."

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Alright, folks, so that's a wrap for chapter 1 of this story. Alright, so before we get too far into the fic, I want to clarify some things. First of all, I know it was never confirmed that Mito and Kushina were directly related, but in this story, they are…which makes Naruto a descendant of Hashirama. A fun fact for you guys about Naruto's chakra nature is he inherited lightning fire and wind from Minato. Kushina gave him Wind, Water, and Earth. Like I said in the opening A/N, Naruto is going to be ridiculously strong in this story. I left a shit ton of clues about the future powers he will be learning. Also, since Tobirama wants him to maintain a middle of the pack appearance in the academy, Naruto will likely end up on a different team as well.

As far as the plot itself is concerned...I know it might seem a bit ridiculous for a 10 year old to learn advanced jutsus and sneak past jonin all that, but c'mon...Itachi was in Anbu at like 13 or something. Plus Naruto canonically was able to steal the scroll, so it's not that much of a stretch. I just wanted to point that out before anyone mentioned it. All that aside, hopefully, you like it so far.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: A New Naruto**

 **A/N:** I'm posting these first two chapters back to back just so that I can get this story out there to let interest accumulate. I'm not sure what kind of a response it will get yet, but hopefully you guys will like it whether you are a fan of my other stories or not.

 **Shinobi Academy, the Next Day**

The following day at school, Naruto was met with the familiar sight of his peers laughing and playing in the classroom as he walked through the door. Under usual circumstances, he would proudly enter and announce his presence to the class, but today he said absolutely nothing as he quietly walked towards his seat.

Ironically however, his lack of attention-seeking seemed to have an opposite effect as everyone in the classroom turned towards him with curious expressions. No doubt they were surprised by his new all black attire, but Naruto's demeanor was shockingly different than they were used to seeing.

"Looks like Naruto finally ditched the orange jumpsuit," Chouji was the first person to break the awkward silence. Shikamaru had a somewhat curious and inquisitive look in his eyes as he silently watched the blonde.

"He looks different…and it's not just the clothes either. I wonder what's up?" Shikamaru replied as he and Chouji quietly talked about it.

Kiba being the brash and instigating type, immediately called Naruto out, "Yo loser, what's with the new clothes?! Did you finally catch on to the fact that you looked stupid in the jumpsuit!?"

To everyone's complete astonishment, Naruto didn't say anything in response. He briefly looked at Kiba with a disapproving face but did not retaliate.

Ino looked on with surprise, "Wow, he's not talking…that's a first."

"Hey, dead last, I'm talking to you! Don't think that you can just ignore me!" Kiba growled as he slammed a hand in front of Naruto's desk.

Naruto was about to stand up and say something, but thankfully, someone else did, "Kiba, sit down please!"

The students all jerked their heads towards Iruka who had somehow slipped into the room without them noticing.

The dog boy gritted his teeth at Naruto before walking to his seat, "Whatever, he's not worth my time anyway."

" **I'm amazed you didn't attack him,"** a dark and familiar voice sounded in Naruto's head. He immediately recognized it as Kyuubi's.

' _Fox, is that you?'_ he thought surprised.

" **Yeah, I told you that opened a psychic link between us, right?"** the bijuu responded.

' _You're right…I guess I forgot,'_ the blonde noted.

" **I know your new sensei doesn't want you to draw attention to yourself, but you shouldn't let this little punk talk down to you like that. I'm not even fond of you, and I hate seeing you take these insults from arrogant children. You should put them in their place,"** Kyuubi said with annoyance.

Naruto sighed, _'Yeah, well I'm honestly too tired to care anyways. Besides, I don't think I'm strong enough to beat him yet. His time will come…'_

" **I suppose that's good motivation to train and study hard then?"** the fox asked.

' _It definitely is. Besides…other than, Sasuke-teme, I really can't stand this Kiba guy acting like he's so much better than me. I'll show him…I'll show them all that I'm not a joke. I just have to do what Tobirama-sensei said and wait for the opportune moment to strike,'_ Naruto thought somewhat angrily.

" **I get that, but for the sake of your pride, don't let this go on for too long. I already had to watch Kushina get bullied through the academy…I'm not about to watch it again with you,"** the fox sighed.

Naruto perked up, _'Really? What can you tell me about your last jinchuuriki? What was she like?'_

" **She was somewhat like you, but with red hair and an obnoxiously self-righteous attitude. I personally found her boring, lazy, and unambitious. At least you're trying to get strong and you have some semblance of respect for me. I think you'll be much worthier host at least. I suppose that's all I can really hope for until I get out of this prison,"** the fox answered.

' _Is that a compliment?'_ Naruto wondered.

" **Don't word it like that…I'm just saying that I don't hate you as much as I thought I would** ," Kyuubi retorted immediately.

' _It's okay to compliment someone, Kyuubi. Isn't that what friends do?'_ Naruto asked.

The fox scoffed at him, **"We can't be friends…I already told you that."**

' _Why not? We CAN be friends if you'll just open up a little. I don't hate you…and you don't seem to hate me if you're actually willing to talk to me like this,'_ Naruto countered.

" **I'm the reason you're an orphan…has that even crossed your mind yet?"** Kyuubi trailed off with a serious tone.

' _How exactly?'_ Naruto wondered.

" **If you really want to know, then think about the situation logically for a moment. You were a newborn baby when I was sealed inside of you,"** the fox followed up.

Naruto paused for a moment before responding, _'Why did the Yondaime seal you inside of me? I mean, if I was just a baby at the time, why was I chosen?'_

" **You are an Uzumaki, and only your body could contain me. Kushina was actually the last Uzumaki in this village as far as I'm aware. You were the only other one…why might that be?"** the fox asked rhetorically.

' _How am I related to her?'_ he asked anxiously.

The fox was silent for a long moment before answering, **"She was your mother, fool. You're denser than I expected."**

' _What?! Seriously?!'_ Naruto thought shocked.

" **Yeah…so now you know. Your parents are dead because of me. I thought about withholding that information from you, but I don't see a point. You were under the delusion that we could be friends…we can't. How could you befriend me after knowing that?"** the fox said darkly.

' _Wait…so if Kushina Uzumaki was my mother, then who is my father?!'_ Naruto mentally gasped.

" **Hmm…maybe her husband Minato Namikaze with his blonde hair and blue eyes. Is it really that much of a stretch for you? You're an Uzumaki with blonde hair and blue eyes. Where do you think you got it from?!"** the fox shook his head and growled.

' _Yonaime's my father?!'_ Naruto couldn't believe the words.

The fox sighed, **"Yes…and he sealed me inside of you after I tried to kill his village. As I said before…we can be civil, but you and I cannot be friends."**

Naruto didn't know what to say as he tried to hold back tears. He felt a wave of emotions rising to the surface, but he swallowed them immediately. He wasn't about to cry or make a scene in front of his class.

His depression however became obvious to several inhabitants in the room. Namely Iruka, Sasuke, and Hinata. They all had different thoughts on the matter however.

Iruka stopped his lecture briefly as he turned his gaze towards Naruto, _'What's wrong with him? I've never seen him look so down before. Did Kiba's words really get to him? Maybe I should say something to him in private?'_

Hinata's eyes lingered on Naruto with a sad face of her own. Her empathy was high as she read Naruto's expression, _'Naruto-kun looks so sad. He always seems to hide his emotions behind a smile, but something is wrong with him today. He didn't even fight back against Kiba-kun.'_

Sasuke's eyes were affixed on Naruto for a moment, _'I know that look…the look of loss. Something tragic must have happened to him recently. I've never seen him that depressed before. I doubt Kiba upset him. He's endured worse insults from me. He doesn't have a family as far as I'm aware…strange.'_

Naruto pushed his emotions and thoughts aside as he focused solely on his academics. His mind kept wanting to go into that dark place and lament on the tragedy of his life, but he maintained his bearing and focus.

After what felt like an eternity, class finally ended. Naruto waited for everyone else to exit before leaving himself. Unfortunately, he was stopped by Iruka on his way out the door. The Chunin placed a hand on his shoulder, "Naruto, may I have a word with you in private please…before you go home?"

"Why, sensei?" Naruto asked bluntly to his teacher.

Several of his lingering classmates were doing their best to eavesdrop as Iruka had a concerned look on his face. The Chunin noticed a few of the other students and quickly shooed them away, "Guys, please give us some privacy."

Reluctantly, the curious students departed as Iruka and Naruto were left alone in the room. Mizuki was thankfully not there today. Naruto was grateful for that as he did not want to deal with the other condescending Chunin right now.

After he was sure of everyone's departure, Iruka crossed his arms and frowned, "What's wrong, Naruto? You've been acting very unusual the past two days, and today you came in looking depressed. You're even dressed differently..."

"Why wouldn't I be depressed, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked with a somewhat angry look on his face.

The man cocked his head at Naruto uncertainly, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Naruto lifted his shirt up and pointed at the seal on his stomach, "I doubt you want to talk about this, sensei…"

Iruka's jaw dropped as his eyes widened in disbelief, "N-Naruto…did someone-"

"I know all about it, Iruka-sensei…and why you all hate me for it. All those times you singled me out...now I know why," Naruto stated coldly.

"Naruto, who told you, about that? It's forbidden to speak about-" Iruka didn't get to finish as Naruto interrupted him.

"I had a feeling you knew…all of the adults in the village seem to know. Is that why everyone's parents tell their kids to avoid me?" the boy spat.

Iruka shook his head, "Naruto, I-"

"My parents died the day I was born, Iruka-sensei…not that you'd understand or care. So you're wondering why I'm depressed…there you have it. I'm just the demon brat to you as well, aren't I?" Naruto said shaking his head as he turned to leave.

He didn't make it far before Iruka stopped him, "Wait, Naruto…I'm sorry."

"What?" the blonde tilted his head in confusion.

"I've been prejudiced towards you for a long time…always seeing you as the fox and not as a kid. I suppose you're a victim in all of this too. I was a fool to not realize that sooner…" Iruka said sadly.

Naruto was genuinely surprised by the man's empathy. He looked at him uncertainly, "What are you saying, sensei?"

"For whatever it's worth, Naruto…I forgive you, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me as well. I shouldn't hate you for something you had no control over. Nobody should. There's too much hate in this world. I should have reached out to help you, instead of ignoring a boy in need," Iruka frowned. The man almost looked like he was about to cry much to Naruto's disbelief.

"I don't understand…" Naruto said blankly.

Iruka looked down for a moment, "My parents also died in the attack 10 years ago. As much as I want to be angry about it and hate the world or hate you for what happened, it doesn't accomplish anything. I know it's tough to not be bitter, Naruto, but holding onto hate only destroys you. I couldn't possibly understand what it's like for you to carry the burden of holding that terrible demon inside of you. Just know that I am here if you ever need someone to talk to. You shouldn't have to be alone. From here on out, I'll do my best to help you become a Genin Naruto."

Naruto felt like he was about to cry. He looked away, "Thanks Sensei…that actually means a lot to me."

"Are you hungry right now, Naruto? I can take you to go get some food," Iruka offered.

Naruto smiled weakly, "Sorry, sensei, but I have plans. Maybe we can do that some other time. I'll see you tomorrow in class."

"Okay, Naruto…remember I'm here if you need me," Iruka reiterated.

Without another word, the blonde boy left. Thankfully, nobody appeared to have eavesdropped on their conversation, but Naruto did notice Kiba waiting outside of the Academy.

The other boy gritted his teeth enthusiastically, "There you are, dead last! Been waiting for you! So how's about you tell me what's wrong with you today?!"

"Go away, dog-breath…I'm not in the mood to deal with you," Naruto said distantly.

Akamaru began to bark annoyingly as Kiba growled, "So what, you're trying to act all cool now, like that Uchiha bastard?!"

The dog boy ran in and delivered a swift punch to Naruto's face knocking him to the ground. The blonde got back up immediately and simply walked away.

"The hell?! You scared to fight me now, Uzumaki?!" Kiba boasted as he ran in to deliver another punch.

He never quite made it as a surge of chakra flooded Naruto's entire body. Naruto spun around and punched Kiba dead in the face sending the other boy flying into a nearby tree. Akamaru barked and growled angrily as Naruto took a step forward.

Naruto quickly regained his senses when he felt Kyuubi's chakra beginning to wash over his own. He immediately calmed down as he took a deep breath and forced it back, _'No…it doesn't have to be like this.'_

Kiba looked shocked by the strength behind Naruto's punch and took a moment to get back up. He didn't say a word as he stared a Naruto in extreme pain.

Akamaru ran towards Kiba's leg and whimpered fearfully as Naruto stared Kiba down. The blonde spoke up with fury in his voice, "I said I'm not in the mood, Kiba…"

"Yeah, I got that," Kiba said a bit shell-shocked as he rubbed his cheek. He wasted no time leaving shortly afterward as Naruto turned around.

After he took cover, Naruto made a shadow clone to decoy its way to the Hokage Tower. He was going to have that clone study in the library. On his way towards the Senju Grove, Naruto turned back and looked over the village.

His eyes lingered on the Hokage head monuments sadly, _'Dad…my dad was Hokage. He died to protect this place. Just like Shodaime and Nidaime. All of them sacrificed themselves...is that what it takes to truly be Hokage?'_

After staring at the monuments for a good few minutes, Naruto decided to speak to Kyuubi, _'Hey fox…'_

" **I'm surprised you even want to talk to me right now. What do you want?"** the Kyuubi asked.

' _Earlier, when Kiba was attacking me, I felt your chakra inside of me…almost like you were protecting me. Why?'_

" **You're imagining things…"** the fox replied.

 _'No I'm not…why'd you help me?'_ Naruto asked.

Kyuubi growled, **"I'm not about to be stuck with another Kushina for the next generation! If people attack you, then defend yourself! If you refuse to do it, then I will!"**

 _'I could have seriously hurt him if I didn't stop you,'_ Naruto countered.

 **"So what?"** Kyuubi scoffed.

' _I've thought about what you told me during our first meeting, and about my parents' deaths. I want to tell you how I feel about all of this,'_ Naruto changed the subject.

 **"It's fine if you hate me. Kushina and Mito both did as well. I don't care if you do too…it's nothing new to me. All of you humans are the same,"** the fox said callously.

' _Even though you were involved in my parents' deaths, I still don't hate you, Kyuubi. In fact…I forgive you.'_ Naruto said slowly.

The bijuu was silent for a moment before a disbelieving response followed, **"You do?! How could you possibly forgive me? What makes you think I want your forgiveness anyway?! I don't need it!"**

' _Earlier, when Iruka-sensei reached out to me, it made me realize something…'_ Naruto began.

" **And what is that?"** Kyuubi asked.

' _It's easier to forgive someone than to hate them forever. Nothing will ever change the fact that my parents died, but I still think it wasn't entirely your fault. You were upset and angry…you never had a real connection with anyone in the village despite them using you. They were going to imprison you again and you knew it. Besides…none of it would have happened if it wasn't for that guy who unsealed you from my mom. My parents died protecting the village, and you fought for your freedom against being the village's weapon. How are both sides not justified in that situation? I can't hate you for that. if I were in your position, I might have done the same thing.'_ Naruto said as tears flowed down his face now. He was no longer able to contain his emotions. He cried silently as he stared at the Hokage monuments.

" **Even after all of this, you still think we can be friends?! Why are you so determined to not hate me?"** the fox demanded. Naruto was surprised by the sadness present in the bijuu's voice.

' _You told me the truth even in spite of what it would mean. I think a part of you hopes that someone would understand. You're not a monster, Kyuubi…I don't care what anyone else thinks. You may have done some terrible things in the past, but that doesn't have to define your future.'_ The boy declared reassuringly.

" **And what does then? What do you suggest I do?!"** Kyuubi asked with emotional anger.

' _Being my friend would be a good first step, Kyuubi…'_ Naruto replied.

The fox seemed upset now, **"Is that really what you want? For me to make amends and be your little pet!? Why should I? The only thing I'm interested in is you killing the Uchiha with the orange mask!"**

' _We won't always be together, Kyuubi…one day I'll be dead too and you'll be somewhere else. I don't want your memories of me to be filled with anger and hate. it would be a waste if we didn't help each other find the right path. Isn't that what true strength is? Doing what others can't? Doing what they won't?'_ he responded strongly.

" **What did you just say!? You sound like Hag…"** the fox couldn't finish the sentence.

' _What do I sound like, Kyuubi?'_ Naruto asked.

The fox's voice almost cracked, **"I'm going to tell you something that I've never told any human before…my name is Kurama."**

' _Kurama? You have a name?'_ Naruto said surprised.

" **Only my friends and the other Bijuu know it…"** Kurama responded.

' _Are you saying…'_ Naruto couldn't quite finish as he felt a lump welling up in his throat.

" **Maybe you're right, Naruto. I haven't found the right path, but perhaps we can together…as friends,"** Kurama replied with a warmer and distant tone.

Naruto wiped his tears as he stared into the sunset over Konoha, _'Thanks, Kurama.'_

" **You're pure-hearted, Naruto…like a sage. I never expected you to show me any empathy."**

' _We'll make my parents proud, Kurama…I'll be the best Hokage Konoha has ever seen, and you'll be right there with me. We'll be an unstoppable two-man team…and I'll show the world that jinchuurikis are not monsters! That you're not a monster...'_ Naruto stated strongly as he stared at the Hokage statues.

" **Maybe this is the right path…"** Kurama said with a melancholy optimism.

' _Speaking of which…I'm late for training with Tobirama-sensei!'_ Naruto thought alarmed. He quickly got up and bolted in the direction of the Senju grove.

 **Senju Grove**

Upon arriving at the Senju grove, Naruto was surprised to see his ghost sensei sitting calmly by a small lake. The white-haired man spoke sternly without even turning to look, "You're late…I was about to come get you."

"Sorry, Tobirama-sensei. I-" Naruto didn't get to finish his sentence as the man stood up and interrupted him.

"I sensed a change in your chakra earlier…I take it you've gained some access to the Kyuubi's chakra?" Tobirama asked knowingly.

Naruto looked away for a moment uncertainly, "I…yeah we talked a little. How did you find out?"

"I'm a sensory ninja...and I'm linked to your chakra, so I can easily detect changes in you. That being said, it is fortunate that you are on speaking terms with the Kyuubi," the Nidaime said calmly.

" **I'm surprised he would think so…"** Kyuubi noted.

Tobirama looked at Naruto's eyes for a moment, "Have you been crying?"

The boy looked down shamefully, "Yes sensei…"

"Why? Did the fox say something to you?" he asked with uncharacteristic empathy.

' _Should I tell him, Kurama?'_ Naruto asked the fox mentally.

Kurama sighed, **"You might as well. He's dead, so he can't really spread around information…though I doubt he's the type to do that anyway."**

"He told me about my parents…and how they died. He said I was the Yondaime's son and that my mother was his last Jinchuuriki," Naruto answered.

Tobirama's eyes widened slightly, "Is that right? So he told you that he killed them then? Is that why you're crying?"

"Sort of…there was an Uchiha involved that made him attack the village. Some man with an orange mask. Although, Kurama admitted to me that he wanted to destroy Konoha after breaking free from his sharingan. I guess my dad died sealing him inside of me and my mother died after Kurama was extracted. It wasn't directly Kurama's fault…he just wanted to fight for his freedom and my parents wanted to protect the village," the boy continued.

The man rose a brow curiously, "Kurama? Are you talking about the nine tails? It has a name?"

Naruto nodded, "He does."

"And he told you his name? That's interesting. Hashirama and I had a discussion about this once. Some of the Bijuu referred to themselves by names, but the Kyuubi never did. Does this mean that you are on good terms with the fox?" Tobirama asked surprised.

"We are now…Kurama and I are friends," Naruto replied.

The Nidaime nodded with approval, "That's very unusual, but I applaud your maturity and initiative. Having the Kyuubi's cooperation will make you much stronger. I'm amazed that it would even speak to you, let alone accept friendship. The Kyuubi never trusted humans after Madara abused its power with his Sharingan. Mito Uzumaki once told me that Kyuubi hated her and Hashirama just as much as Madara."

"Kurama doesn't like Konoha, sensei…he says that he's tired of being used. I don't want to force anything on him. We're partners in this…he's not a weapon," Naruto stated strongly.

The Nidaime had a deep look on his face, "I suppose it's not unusual that the Kyuubi would hate Konoha after two Uchihas abused it. How did you get the nine tails to tell you all of this? It's rather unprecedented for a bijuu to befriend a human…especially the Kyuubi."

"I just tried to see his point of view. It's like you said, sensei…bijuu aren't evil monsters," Naruto said slowly.

"So you say you're partners now? The Kyuubi wants to help you become stronger?" Tobirama asked.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, and he wants me to take out that Uchiha bastard with the orange mask."

"We have work to do then…you won't stand a chance against an Uchiha with a Mangekyo sharingan unless you're well past Jonin level. Let's get to training," Tobirama said approvingly.

Kurama chuckled lightly, **"I kind of like him…"**

' _Really?'_ Naruto responded.

" **He didn't once question or condemn your intention to befriend me. He also doesn't like Uchihas…that's two for two,"** Kurama spoke up enthusiastically.

"Alright, Naruto, we're going to continue with your chakra control today and your accuracy," Tobirama announced.

"My accuracy?" Naruto questioned uncertainly.

The Nidaime shook his head, "If you ever intend on being good at Flying Raijin, then you had better be good at throwing kunai and shuriken."

"Why though?" Naruto wondered.

"With Flying Raijin, you can place a seal on a thrown kunai and use it to teleport to that kunai. In truth, it is advanced fuinjutsu where you essentially summon yourself to your seals. To master this, you should be an expert at throwing projectile weapons," Tobirama explained.

Naruto nodded, "Alright, let's do it then!"

"One more thing…I gained some recent intel while you were asleep and learned more about the state of the village right now. It's incredibly weak. The Senjus and Uchihas are both nearly extinct now, and there aren't many powerful shinobi here anymore. Hiruzen is strong, but he's well past his prime and he's far too soft. Ever since the Yondaime died, Konoha has become incredibly vulnerable. You must be prepared for an inevitable attack. Other villages will grow bolder the older Hiruzen becomes," the white-haired hokage followed up.

"I understand, sensei…this isn't just about me anymore," Naruto nodded understandingly.

Tobirama nodded, "I'm glad to see you understand that. Also, another interesting bit of information I uncovered was the Yondaime's reputation. He was known for using Flying Raijin and was a renowned sensory ninja like myself. Similar to chakra natures, inherent sensory skills are usually genetic…that makes you very lucky to be the Yondaime's son. You have the potential become more powerful than me if you work hard enough."

"Wow…so I will actually be able to learn Flying Raijin like you and my dad then?" Naruto asked excitedly.

Tobirama nodded, "In due time, Naruto…first you're going to master the basics."

The blonde was silent for a moment as he looked away nervously. Tobirama eyed him sharply, "What's wrong?"

"I wanted to ask you something else…is it possible for me to bring back my parents with Edo Tensei?" Naruto asked.

The Nidaime shook his head, "I would strongly advise against that, Naruto…even if you could somehow acquire DNA from them and sacrifices to do it, they would be zombies still. Edo Tensei is not something you should ever take lightly. It's a very dangerous and arguably evil jutsu. I used it to create zombies that could take out my enemies with no regard to their own lives…since they were already dead. Using it the manner you speak of would be immoral. Do you really want to subject your parents to undeath? I'm here as a spirit and I can leave when the time comes. They on the other hand would be denied the afterlife in that state…neither living nor dead. That's not something you should put your parents through out of a simple desire to see them."

Naruto looked sad at this news but nodded understandingly, "I guess it was a bit much to hope for. Still, I do want to find a way to talk with them one day…even if it's only for a short while."

"Let's get to work…you've already wasted two hours today," Tobirama changed the subject after a short silence.

"Yes, Tobirama-sensei!" Naruto replied.

 **1 Year Later**

In the following year, Naruto consistently trained every day after school with Tobirama. Every waking hour of his free time other than sleep was spent in the Senju Grove learning and mastering all the basic skills a Shinobi possibly could.

Naruto spent the first few months perfecting chakra control, accuracy, taijutsu, and kenjutsu. His proficiency with shadow clones only continued to grow with each passing day as he now trained with hundreds at a time. He typically always had some doing basic exercises while the majority would focus on his current day's objectives.

True to his word, Tobirama continued to teach the boy new things, and would often set short-term goals and bars for him to reach which consistently motivated the young blonde to become stronger and stronger.

In one short year under his ghost sensei's teachings, Naruto now had almost perfect chakra control, remarkable skill with projectile weapons, and a moderately skilled proficiency in kenjutsu. Tobirama only taught a little bit of ninjutsu during this time, much to the blonde's displeasure.

He had learned Wind Levitation, Retrieving Wind, Projectile Control, Wind Explosion, and Slashing Wind jutsus. All of them were relatively basic wind release techniques, but due to Naruto's enormous chakra pool and excellent chakra control, they were around Chunin level in power.

While he was proud of learning wind jutsus, Naruto had been extremely eager to learn more elements. Sadly however, the others were far more difficult for him to grasp. Earth, being Wind's opposite was challenging for him to learn. To him it felt like trying to write an essay with his non-dominant hand. It was doable, but extremely sloppy and unrefined. Nevertheless, his strong affinities for Earth and Water had allowed him to learn one ninjutsu from each element. One was Rock Throw, which was pretty much the most basic Earth Style Ninjutsu one could learn. The other was Water Pellet. Rock throw allowed him to throw a small chunk of earth, and Water Pellet allowed him to shoot a bullet of water out of his mouth.

While they weren't impressive, Naruto was extremely proud of learning them. Today, he was having half of his clones practice Earth and the other half practicing water.

Tobirama casually glanced around at the clones training before turning towards the real Naruto, "You're slightly better at water than earth…that shouldn't be the case since those elemental natures are balanced within you. Put 60 percent of your clones on earth training and keep the other 40 percent on water," Tobirama instructed.

The clones immediately redistributed themselves as commanded. A constant year of being drilled by Tobirama had made Naruto good at making these on the fly changes.

After they redistributed, Tobirama spoke up again, "Remember, Naruto, Earth chakra is all about power. You want to make your chakra dense and form the hand seals with flexed tension. Wind and water are indirect and flowing…earth is stalwart and direct. Remember that."

Naruto nodded as he corrected himself. All of his shadow clones practicing rock throw seemed to be improving as larger and larger chunks of earth formed out of the ground.

"I think I'm getting better at earth style, sensei," Naruto stated proudly.

"Good, now I want you to defeat all of your shadow clones using only Earth and Water ninjutsu…understood?" Tobirama stated.

"Yes sensei!" Naruto nodded as he charged in to fight his shadow clones. One by one, he took out waves of them with rock throws and water pellets. With each clone he destroyed, he felt himself losing more and more stamina. When he got down to the last clone, he felt like he was about to pass out.

The last clone charged in and shot a massive water pellet towards him. With his remaining energy, Naruto unleashed the strongest rock throw jutsu that he could. His jutsu struggled against his clone's, but after a final push, Naruto managed to destroy it.

He collapsed to the ground a moment later panting heavily as the exhaustion had finally got the best of him. "How was that, Tobirama-sensei?" Naruto asked between panted breaths.

There was no response for a good ten seconds as Tobirama walked over towards him. Naruto looked up at the man confused, "Sensei?"

"I don't believe it…" Tobirama said with genuine disbelief in his voice. His eyes were wide, and his mouth was agape.

"What?" Naruto asked confused, "did I do something wrong?"

Tobirama then pointed to where Naruto's clone had just been defeated. Where it stood, a single budding tree could be seen. The Nidaime shook his head, "This tree wasn't here a minute ago…"

"Huh?!" Naruto gasped as he managed to sit up and look over at it. Tobirama turned his gaze upon Naruto, "You have a bloodline ability, Naruto…"

"I do?!" Naruto said confused.

"Wood Release…I don't even know what to say. This is incredible," Tobirama remarked with a slight bit of pride in his voice.

Naruto's eyes widened as he stared at the small tree, "Wait…I can use wood release?!"

"I knew that you were related to Hashirama and myself, but I never expected this…you're a true Senju heir," Tobirama smiled for the first time ever.

"I…I am?" Naruto asked uncertainly.

"Wood release is the most powerful nature transformation bloodline in the world, Naruto. Only Hashirama was ever able to use it. With Wood Release, Flying Thunder God, and Kurama you're going to be able to protect Konoha from anything…" Tobirama smiled proudly.

"Really? How is wood release the strongest bloodline in the world? Isn't wood weak against fire?" Naruto asked confused.

" **He's right, kit…Wood Release was able to stop me and all of the other Bijuu. It's no joke,"** Kurama stated.

"Wood Release can drain chakra as well as suppress it. It's actually a remarkably powerful ability because it combines Earth, Water, and Yang natures into one. Even Madara Uchiha with his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was no match for Hashirama's skill with Mokuton," Tobirama explained.

"So what does this mean for my training then, Sensei? How am I supposed to learn wood release if only Shodaime could do it?" Naruto asked.

Tobirama thought for a moment, "It will be difficult for you to learn as I do not have firsthand knowledge on how to train you in it. I can teach you some basics that I understood from Hashirama's fighting style, but you'll have to figure out the rest for yourself."

"Couldn't I just summon Shodaime-sama's ghost here like I did with yours?" Naruto asked.

Tobirama shook his head, "I wouldn't advise that. Hashirama is way more powerful than I am. Even if you could somehow perfectly replicate that incomplete Edo Tensei, it would likely kill you. You could technically do it with a human sacrifice, but you don't have any of Hashirama's DNA, and I don't feel particularly comfortable with my brother being resurrected as a zombie…even temporarily."

Naruto frowned, "Well that sucks then…"

"If you're half as smart as my idiot older brother was, then you're bound to figure it out yourself eventually. I will teach you what I know about it, but the rest is up to you. I would recommend committing a number of shadow clones to Wood Release training full time while I teach you the rest of what I can," the white-haired Hokage followed.

 **Two Years Later**

It had been three years since his training began with Tobirama, and two years since he discovered his bloodline. In that time, Naruto had grown more powerful than he ever expected to. The following year after learning about wood release, Naruto had been diligent in gaining proficiency in it. To his astonishment, it had developed exponentially.

His incredibly large chakra reserves were something that made wood release a truly terrifying ability. His deep forest creation was probably his favorite jutsu now as it conjured as large and as many trees as he could create with his chakra. As his abilities got more and more powerful, he would end up training further and further away from the village. He often trained by creating forests and destroying them periodically with other techniques. His ability to use wood release was nowhere close to Hashirama's level, according to Tobirama, but it was still fearsome to behold.

As his training got progressively further and further away from Konoha, he had to put a large amount of chakra into his decoy shadow clone in Konoha, so it wouldn't dissipate. Even in spite of this, he never stayed away for more than a day or two at a time.

His decoy shadow clone typically went to study in the Hokage Tower library after school. This kept it under close surveillance for the anbu that would periodically watch Naruto. On several occasions, the clone had run into Danzo.

The man found it rather strange that Naruto was always so consumed with studying, but Hiruzen on the other hand was actually proud of Naruto for taking initiative to do so. While leaving the shadow clone to study there was good for his cover, Naruto also found himself becoming smarter from all the history that the clone had studied in the library. That in addition to his new mindset had made him an academic genius in the Konoha Shinobi Academy.

In addition to his bloodline, he had mastered dozens of jutsus from each of the five basic elemental natures and had vastly developed his sensory skills. While he was still nowhere near as good as Minato or Tobirama, Naruto was now a sensory ninja like his predecessors. Tobirama also felt it necessary to teach Naruto medical ninjutsu. The Nidaime insisted that any worthwhile Senju heir should be good at it as both he and Hashirama were.

Only in the last year was Naruto finally able to start learning Flying Raijin. This was Naruto's second favorite ability as it made him feel more like his father and his sensei. Despite learning and being able to perform it now, Naruto was still nowhere near his father's skill level with the jutsu. Nevertheless, Tobirama had remarked that Naruto would reach it eventually.

Other than his training with Tobirama, Naruto had also gained a deeper connection with Kurama's chakra. The two of them had been working on aligning their chakra with each other so that they could one day use a Bijuu transformation if necessary.

Unfortunately, despite their preparation for it, Kurama had explained thoroughly to Naruto that he would have to learn how to unlock his body's seal in order to reach a full transformation. Tobirama taught Naruto how to unlock his seal but told him only to do so if necessary.

Overall, Naruto's hard work the past three years had paid off in more areas than one. Not only was he much smarter and stronger now, but Naruto was also well-developed for his age. Tobirama stressed the importance of eating a lot of protein and carbs to help him grow stronger and bigger, which they did. He also grew his hair out slightly longer as well similar to his father's. Part of him felt like it honored Minato to emulate him.

Many of his classmates in the academy found his development impressive and confusing. Some even tried to befriend him as Naruto became "cooler" as it were. Namely among them were Shikamaru and Chouji. Naruto always turned down their offers to hang out after school and had become almost anti-social in the past three years. Despite his eagerness to make friends, Naruto knew he couldn't skip training. Tobirama made it clear that if he truly wanted to become strong, then he would have to sacrifice more than just his free time and energy. He practically had to abandon his childhood and mature as a shinobi.

Kiba had of course still been condescending, but he gradually began to steer away from Naruto as the years passed by. This was mostly due to Naruto almost never talking. Iruka had found the entire change in persona to be a bit disturbing and had often invited Naruto to go have ramen with him or talk.

The boy would occasionally send his decoy shadow clone to spend time with Iruka just so that the man wouldn't worry about him. Despite his self-alienation, Naruto did like Iruka as an instructor and a person. They would often talk about Naruto's goals, and the blonde would always say that he was going to become Hokage.

Other than Iruka's concerns, several of Naruto's peers occasionally spied on him from time to time out of a curiosity for Naruto's vast jump in maturity and skills. Chiefly among them were Hinata obviously, Sasuke, and even Kiba. All three of them had stealthily followed Naruto after school to learn more about him, but they always just saw the shadow clone studying in the library or practicing basic academy exercises.

Out of the three however, only Hinata had been suspicious about the Shadow Clone. She noticed that Naruto NEVER spoke to anyone other than Iruka and the Sandaime outside of class, and that he didn't do enough after school to really explain why he was so tired all the time.

Nevertheless, her shy nature prevented her from ever really following up on the matter. Sasuke found Naruto's improvement noteworthy, but also a bit disturbing. The blonde almost never messed up in class now and was practically good at everything they did or studied.

In fact it was somewhat humbling for him to witness. Despite being the number one rookie in the class, Sasuke was impressed by Naruto's rapid rise in skill. Unlike before, the blonde boy was never flashy or attention-seeking. He never once boasted, and he always seemed like his mind was either focused on what he was doing or off in the clouds. He had developed a slight respect for his classmate over the years, but never once made it obvious.

The two would be paired in sparring matches on occasion, and Sasuke would still always win them. Despite this however, Naruto had beaten his accuracy score, and was now ranked second in the class overall. Despite Tobirama telling Naruto to be subtle, the blonde couldn't help but excel at everything in the academy as it was pathetically easy for him now.

He still couldn't beat Sasuke in taijutsu or academics, but Naruto was no longer the joke many had once thought of him as.

Currently, the blonde was sitting in class with a very bored look on his face. Iruka looked over the room and spoke up proudly, "You all did an amazing job on the finals yesterday, and it makes me proud that all of you passed. Great job, everyone…especially you, Naruto."

The jinchuuriki was drawn from his bored thoughts when he heard his name. Everyone in the class was staring at him as Iruka spoke proudly, "You had the highest score on our final exam yesterday. Excellent work!"

To his side, a bitter and petty Mizuki was glaring daggers at the boy. Despite all of his attempts to sabotage Naruto, the blonde would always outsmart him or surpass expectations. He had attempted to give Naruto curve balls on the finals yesterday, and to his bitter fury, Naruto succeeded.

"Wow, Naruto really beat Sasuke's score in the final exam?!" Ino spoke up with disbelief.

Iruka nodded, "They both had perfect scores, but Naruto performed his faster. Though you all did a great job, so you should be proud of yourselves. This class is one of the best ones I've ever had. I have no doubt that many of your will grow to become talented shinobi."

Sasuke sent a sharp glare Naruto's way _, 'He beat me? How? I know he's gotten better and that he studies a lot, but so do I. The gap between us is shorter than I thought...'_

"There must be a mistake, sensei! There's no way Naruto had a higher score than Sasuke…or even me for that matter!" Sakura protested. She took pride in being one of the best students in academics. It wasn't shocking for her to lose to a prodigy like Sasuke, whom she idolized, but Naruto was another matter. Even though he had become better over the years, it was still a difficult pill for her to swallow.

"Well Naruto has worked really hard for the past few years to improve his ranking, so you should be proud of him. He graduated second overall," Iruka responded to her.

" **He has no idea just how hard…"** Kurama added.

' _Did I seriously graduate 2nd? Maybe I should have botched some of my stuff or lost a few more matches these past few months. All of these perfect scores really advanced my ranking I guess,'_ Naruto thought surprised.

"What?! Naruto got second?! What were the ranks overall, sensei?!" Kiba demanded.

Iruka cleared his throat and spoke, "Let's see here…third place was Ino. She also had the highest kunoichi score."

"Ha! You hear that forehead?! I beat you!" Ino proclaimed proudly.

"Shut up Ino-pig! Where was I sensei!?" Sakura interrupted.

"Let's see…Sakura you were eighth overall, but you were third in academics behind Sasuke and Naruto," Iruka answered.

"Hahaha! Naruto beat you, forehead!" Ino laughed at her pink-haired rival.

"Well apparently he beat you too!" Sakura shot back.

"What about me, sensei?!" Kiba demanded.

Iruka sighed, "Kiba…you were ninth overall."

"Man, really?!" he complained.

"That's something to be proud of. There's thirty of you that graduated in this class," Iruka said with a nod.

The dog boy crossed his arms unhappily, "Pfft…ninth."

Iruka told various people their ranks for the next few minutes which entailed a lot of banter and other social annoyances that Naruto didn't care for.

"Fifteenth is Hinata Hyuuga, Sixteenth is-" Iruka continued listing the ranks.

 _'I'm amazed Hyuuga graduated at all. She's the most timid person I've ever met. If it wasn't for her taijutsu, she'd probably be close to last,'_ Naruto thought as he saw Hinata's expression sink.

 **"Isn't she their clan heir? I vaguely remember someone mentioning that a while back,"** Kurama pointed out.

Naruto shrugged, _'Yeah, I suppose fear of shaming her clan kept her from failing…still they're probably not happy that she's kind of mediocre.'_

 **"At least she's not annoying…other than when she stalks you,"** the fox chuckled.

 _'She's not the only one who thinks they can spy on me. Though I wonder why she gives a damn about me? I don't recall ever speaking to her before,'_ Naruto thought for a moment.

He tuned out Iruka announcing the rest of the irrelevant names and ranks of other students. Naruto silently observed the class and saw everyone's joyous carefree expressions. He shook his head with annoyance, ' _Man, I am so ready for this stupid academy stuff to be over. There's nothing left for this place to teach me, and all this place does anymore is waste my time. I am sick and tired of looking at these people day after day.'_

" **Well at least it's over now. Though if I remember Kushina's life correctly, I think they assign you to a genin team after graduation and make you do a bunch of ridiculous chores. Hopefully, you're not put on a team with someone insufferable,"** the fox stated.

Naruto looked around the room at his peers, _'That's pretty much everyone in this room. Why does anyone here even have an ego? All we did was graduate from the academy. Their egos are going to deflate the moment they get a taste of harsh reality. For all of his smugness, at least Sasuke takes being a Shinobi as seriously as I do.'_

" **None of these people will have egos when they find out how strong you actually became these past three years,"** Kurama laughed.

' _If they find out…there's no reason to exert my power over people that stand no chance against me. What's the point in that?'_ Naruto shrugged.

" **Yeah, it is a bit flashy…but it will be funny to see their reactions. You're going to have to reveal your powers eventually if you want to become Hokage. I actually can't wait to see how the Sandaime reacts,"** the fox grinned.

Naruto thought for a moment, _'Hopefully, he'll understand…I have no idea how people in the village will react when they see me using Mokuton or Flying Raijin.'_

"With your rankings officially listed, we will now place you into three-man teams and assign you to a Jonin instructor. These teams are as balanced as we could make them based on your graduation scores and your specific specialties as Shinobi. As of this day forward, you're all genin now," Iruka exclaimed proudly.

The newly graduated genin all cheered a bit before Iruka silenced the class, "Alright, let's see here…"

Naruto tuned the man out for a moment as he called out team names. Eventually he regained interest when he started hearing more relevant names, "Team Seven will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Kiba Inuzuka. Your Jonin instructor will be Kakashi Hatake. Team Eight will be Shino Aburame, Chouji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara. Your instructor is Kurenai Yuhi."

"I'm on a team with Sasuke-kun! Hah! Suck it Ino-pig!" Sakura proclaimed proudly to her blonde rival. Sasuke visibly cringed at the sight of Sakura and sighed silently as he maintained an edgy disposition.

Kiba seemed surprised by his team and growled, "So they paired me up with you then, Uchiha?"

Sasuke didn't even respond as he glanced at Kiba briefly. The dog boy cracked a fist and shook his head, "Whatever…at least I'm not on a team with Naruto."

"Ahem! Please let me finish before all of the outbursts," Iruka announced before continuing, "Team Ten will be Hinata Hyuuga, Ino Yamanaka, and Naruto Uzumaki. Your Jonin instructor is Asuma Sarutobi."

"Haha, they put you on a team with Naruto!" Sakura laughed at her rival. Ino seemed a little bit annoyed at Sakura's gloating and crossed her arms with displeasure.

Hinata on the other hand looked as if she could faint at any moment. She would get to be on the same team as her crush.

Naruto maintained a completely neutral expression and didn't react at all despite several of his peers looking at him for one. He reflected on his new team, _'Hmm…Hyuuga's good for tracking and taijutsu, though she's a bit skittish and unambitious. At least she isn't annoying. Yamanaka though…I wonder why I'm paired with her. Our rankings were pretty close. Maybe Hinata leveled it out. Oh well, at least they gave me a good Jonin instructor. I think Asuma is Sandaime's son. He's good with Wind Ninjutsu too.'_

" **It could have been worse…imagine how insufferable it would be if you were on the Uchiha brat's team,"** _Kurama pointed out._

' _Yeah, but at least Sasuke is competent…oh well I can work with these two I suppose. Two Kunoichi on my team will be strange, but it will be fine. I should be able to fix Hyuuga, and Yamanaka is probably more useful than someone like Sakura anyways,'_ Naruto thought with a bit of relief. He had once admired the pink-haired girl for her perky attitude and cute appearance, but those feelings had long since disappeared in recent years.

Naruto's anti-social obsession with training every waking hour had led him to forget she even existed outside of school hours. He didn't find her completely useless as a Shinobi due to her intelligence, but she was rather unremarkable to him, and he found her schoolgirl obsession with Sasuke rather annoying. Ino was similar, but Naruto knew that she at least had clan abilities and decent skills at infiltration.

' _Sakura actually did pretty well for someone who doesn't have a clan. Isn't she just from a regular family? She was the highest ranked person here that didn't come from a clan.'_ Naruto pondered.

His inner musings were interrupted a moment later when Iruka spoke again, "Your Jonin instructors all left me a list of locations they want you to meet them."

Naruto once again ignored all of the irrelevant names until Iruka got down the list. "Team seven is to meet on the rooftop of the academy. Team Eight meet in the park. Team Nine meet on the village wall. Team ten meet at the balcony tower beneath the Hokage Monuments."

As the teams were announced, they all left towards their various locations. Once team ten was called, Naruto got up and made his way for the door. His two new teammates awkwardly followed behind the silent and stoic blonde as he left.

Neither one knew what to say as Naruto walked outside. Finally, Ino broke the silence, "So are you going to say something or what, Naruto?"

He looked back at Ino and an extremely timid Hinata. The Hyuuga girl looked nervous and Ino was a bit annoyed. Naruto eyed her for a moment, "Huh?"

"Ughh…never mind. I can't believe I'm on a team with you two," Ino sighed dramatically.

Naruto ignored her whining as he turned forward again and proceeded to the Hokage monuments. He made sure to go slow enough for his teammates to keep up, and before long they reached their destination.

Their Jonin wasn't there yet, unsurprisingly, which left the three genin alone to look over the Hokage monuments from the nearby balcony. Naruto could see the Hokage Tower as well and immediately sensed Asuma within it. No doubt his new sensei was receiving special instructions by the Sandaime to keep a close eye on him.

As he stared at the Hokage Tower, Naruto was drawn out of his thoughts by Ino again, "Well, if I have to be on this team with you two, then could you at least talk to me?! Jeez you guys are boring."

Naruto glanced at the blonde girl briefly, "What's there to talk about? I doubt we have anything in common."

"Well we're both blonde and we are on the same team now, aren't we?" Ino said with a scornful glare.

The jinchuuriki shrugged, "I suppose so…"

"Umm, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata spoke up nervously for the first time.

The boy turned his gaze to the shy Hyuuga girl, "What is it Hyuuga-san?"

"Y-you can call m-me Hinata…s-since we are teammates and-" she wasn't able to finish her sentence as it got quieter with each passing word.

He looked at her curiously, "Hinata…alright, if you insist. Are you alright? You're looking a bit red."

Hinata nodded shyly as she looked away to cover her flushed cheeks. Ino watched the whole scene with a bit of curiosity.

She shook her head, "Now I get to be third wheel on this team too…great."

"What are you complaining about over there?" Naruto asked her.

Ino got in his face a moment later, "I'm complaining because I got put on a team with two weirdos who refuse to talk to me!"

"Alright, fine…relax. You want to talk to me, then we'll talk," Naruto sighed.

Ino crossed her arms, "I don't actually want to talk to you, but it's better than us standing here in this awkward silence for whoever knows how long."

"I got it, Yamanaka-san…" Naruto said a bit annoyed himself.

"Ino! I-N-O! We're teammates, so don't treat me like I'm some stranger, Naruto! We've been in the same class for like five years in case you've forgotten," the blonde vented.

"Fine, Ino then…" Naruto replied.

The blonde girl smiled proudly, "That's more like it. So I have a question for you, Naruto…"

"Okay, what?" he asked.

"What happened to you?" she demanded.

Naruto cocked his head, "I don't follow…"

"Don't give me that! I mean you used to be all hyper-active and you wore this ugly orange jumpsuit everywhere. Now you wear black every day and you never talk. You climbed from dead last to second in three years! Are you trying to be like Sasuke-kun or something?!"

"No, I'm not." Naruto countered bluntly.

"Then why the change? Did your family start expecting changes or something? Were you afraid to fail?" she persisted.

"I don't have a family…I'm an orphan and the last living member of my clan in Konoha," he answered.

"There's an Uzumaki Clan?" Ino wondered.

"Yeah…there was," Naruto nodded without following up with an explanation.

Ino crossed her arms, "I guess you don't want to talk about that…did your Clan get wiped out like Sasuke-kun's?"

"Not exactly I'm just the only member left after my mother died," Naruto replied.

Ino looked a bit interested now, "Did your clan have any interesting abilities or a bloodline?"

"I d-don't think N-Naruto-kun wants to talk about this," Hinata interjected.

"Alright fine then…so what are you actually capable of doing then, Naruto? I know you've gotten better, but are you actually able to do anything other than what they teach us at the academy?" Ino asked.

The blonde nodded, "I'm a sensory ninja. Asuma-sensei is in the Hokage Tower right now talking to the Sandaime."

"What?! You're a sensory ninja?! Since when?!" Ino demanded.

"Since I first became a true shinobi," Naruto framed the truth in a vague way.

The blonde girl huffed, "Well I don't sense them and I'm a sensory ninja too…why would they put two on one team? That's a bit redundant!"

"Because they don't know that I'm one…" Naruto answered.

"N-Naruto-kun is a sensory type ninja?!" Hinata stuttered with embarrassment.

He glanced at her and nodded, "Yeah…and you're not as stealthy as you think you are, Hinata."

"Eh?!" she went full red as she turned around.

The jinchuuriki shook his head, "It's okay…Sasuke and Kiba have tried spying on me too."

Ino smirked at him, "Seriously? Sasuke-kun was trying to spy on you? I don't believe that for a second."

"You don't have to…and honestly I don't really care what you think of me," Naruto said dismissively as he looked away.

"Well you are a bit mysterious…what do you even do after school?" Ino wondered.

The blonde boy shrugged, "Ask Hinata, she might know."

The poor Hyuuga girl fainted with embarrassment upon hearing those words. Ino looked over at her with a raised brow, "So she's been stalking you then?"

"Occasionally I guess…she usually gets bored of it after an hour or so. She doesn't seem very confident in talking to other people. Maybe she was trying to make sure I was okay or something. Hinata's a nice girl from what I've seen. A bit weird, but hey aren't we all?" Naruto said coolly.

Ino gave him an incredulous look, "I'm not weird."

"You keep thinking that…" Naruto said distantly.

Hinata regained consciousness a moment later. Naruto immediately addressed her when she looked coherent enough, "It's okay, Hinata, I can't blame you or anyone for trying to find out why I'm different. Don't stress over it, okay?"

"Y-yeah, I-I'm sorry, Naruto-kun," she replied timidly without making eye contact.

"Don't be. You're actually pretty good at stealth. I probably wouldn't have ever noticed you if it wasn't for my sensory abilities. Plus, with a Byakugan, you're also ideally suited for our team. We have an ideal team composition for tracking, stealth, and infiltration." Naruto noted.

Ino rolled her eyes, "I'm still not buying that you're a sensory ninja. You're telling me you can sense our sensei all the way over in the Hokage Tower? How? I can't!"

"Fine, don't believe me…" Naruto shrugged.

"I'll believe it when I see it...and I want to see it right now," she huffed.

Naruto turned towards the street, "Test me then. Sense something nearby and ask me what it is."

"Okay! What's on that corner right there!?" Ino immediately demanded.

"A cat. It's black and white and female," Naruto answered.

Ino's eyes widened, "Lucky guess! What four people are over there in that shop."

"Chakra natures suggest two Chunin and two Jonin. All four male," Naruto responded.

The blonde girl seemed more convinced now, "Hmph…maybe you are a sensory ninja then. Though I still don't believe you can sense our sensei. We haven't even met him."

"I've encountered him a couple of times at the Hokage's tower. Asuma-sensei is the Hokage's son. He's one of the few people in the village with a strong affinity to wind chakra nature. He's very distinct," Naruto replied.

Ino looked somewhat infuriated as she got a bit closer as she leaned in, "So what else can you do then if you're so good at this?!"

"I'm good at wind ninjutsu too," Naruto shrugged as he briefly channeled a light amount of chakra over the kunai he was reflexively spinning between his fingers.

"You can do an elemental nature transformation?" Ino perked up surprised.

Naruto nodded, "Yes, I can."

"Since when?! I've never seen you do anything like that at school!" she protested.

"Why would I ever do that at school? It's not really relevant to share or do in the academy. I think Sasuke-teme can use fire style already and he never talks about it. Plus most students from clans have special abilities like Hinata here. I'm hardly unique in that regard," Naruto replied.

" **Hahaha! Are you seriously doing this right now?"** Kyuubi was laughing heartily in his head.

Ino frowned at him, "Since when have you not cared about what others thought of you?"

Naruto ignored her as leaned back against the railing and closed his eyes, _'Man, maybe Sakura would have been a better teammate…at least she would ignore me.'_

"You going to answer me or what?" Ino interrupted his thoughts.

He turned his attention back to Ino after a moment and spoke curiously, "Tell me what can you do exactly…I've already talked enough about myself."

"I'm from the Yamanaka Clan, and my family owns a flower shop. We specialize in mind jutsus," Ino explained.

Hinata timidly spoke up again, "I'm from the Hyuuga Clan, N-Naruto-kun…though y-you probably already know that."

"Hmm…our team could use a medic too. Luckily, we have that covered," Naruto noted as he looked between Hinata and Ino logically.

Ino scoffed at him, "Are you implying I should become a medic because I'm a girl? What time period are you living in?!"

"Not you…I was talking about me. I have the most chakra and pretty good chakra control. Although it would probably do you some good to learn medical skills as well," he noted.

"You're a medical ninja too?! You must be joking…that takes advanced chakra control and many hours of practice. Where would you ever have the time or instruction to learn that?" Ino said dismissively.

Naruto immediately sliced his hand with a kunai much to Hinata and Ino's shock. Both girls watched disbelievingly as the wound immediately coagulated and started to heal. _'Oh damn, I forgot I regenerated super-fast,_ ' Naruto thought urgently as he immediately held his hand over the wound and green chakra could be seen.

A moment later his wound was gone. Ino's eyes widened with amazement, "That's amazing! It healed so fast! Who taught you how to do that?!"

"Just a friend of mine…" Naruto tried to avoid answering.

Hinata was confused by the showing, _'How would Naruto-kun have had time to learn that when he spends most of his time reading and exercising? Maybe he does it when I'm not around? I suppose that would make sense if he was able to sense when people were watching him.'_

"So you can teach me how to do that too?!" Ino chirped excitedly.

Naruto shrugged, "I could, but only if you have good chakra control. Otherwise, it's going to take a while."

"Are you kidding me? I have amazing chakra control! Mine's even better than Forehead's!" Ino boasted.

The jinchuuriki shrugged, "Well maybe I'll make time to teach you then if you're serious about it."

"Maybe being on a team with you won't be so bad after all," Ino said with approval.

" **Talk about a 180…didn't Nidaime tell you not to show off for school girls? Yet here you are flashing all your fancy abilities fresh out of the academy."** Kurama laughed.

The jinchuuriki mentally sighed, _'Well they're my teammates…and I'm technically not in school anymore. Besides, I don't want her thinking I'm incompetent. Plus she could benefit a lot from some extra skills. I want to improve my teammates, and this is the way to do it. It's not like I plan on busting out wood release or flying raijin around them.'_

" **I suppose that's true…"** the fox snickered.

 _'Asuma-sensei's here now,'_ Naruto thought as he immediately turned towards the location where he knew the Jonin would be.

His two teammates noticed this, and a second later Asuma was standing in front of them. Ino was staring intensely at Naruto now, _'He really is a sensory ninja…why would he keep that a secret for all these years?'_

' _I'm so lucky I get to be on a team with Naruto-kun…I hope he can train me too,'_ Hinata thought hopefully.

"Ah, so this must be team ten. Nice to meet ya kids. I'm Asuma Sarutobi, and I am your new Jonin instructor," the black-haired, bearded man announced himself.

"Nice to meet you, Asuma-sensei," Naruto replied.

The man chuckled lightly, "We've met before haven't we, Naruto-kun?"

"A couple of times over the years. I hear you're the old man's son," Naruto shot back.

Asuma nodded, "Yeah, you're pretty close with my father, aren't you?"

" **Look at him acting like he doesn't already know that,"** Kurama sighed.

' _As far as he knows, I'm a clueless jinchuuriki that grandpa Hokage wants him to look over. I'm pretty sure Iruka-sensei never mentioned to anyone that I knew about you. Though, I'd wager he might have told the old man,'_ Naruto responded.

"Nice to meet you, sensei," Ino spoke up with a smile.

The Jonin looked over the three new genin for a moment, "Alright, I already know Naruto-kun, but who are you two?"

"Ino Yamanaka of the Yamanaka Clan," the blonde girl said proudly.

"Hinata Hyuuga…" was all the shy girl managed to speak.

He nodded casually, "Alright, and what are all of your goals? Why did you become shinobi?"

"I-I'm the Hyuuga Clan heir," Hinata said skittishly.

"My dad's a shinobi, and as his only child he encouraged me to follow in his footsteps. If I wasn't a ninja, I'd probably run my family's flower shop. I do rather like floral things as well as nature. I aspire to be the wife of Sasuke Uchiha, and the best Kunoichi in Konoha," Ino went into more detail than anyone cared to know.

Everyone's gaze turned towards Naruto last. The blonde simply shrugged, "My goals have never changed…I still want to become Hokage. I want to honor the legacy of my forefathers,"

Asuma rose a brow slightly, _'Is he referring to the Hokages as his forefathers? He looks completely serious about it. I wonder how skilled a person with that type of ambition is? I guess I'll find out soon.'_

Asuma nodded as he looked them over, "Alright guys, I don't want to keep you long, so here's your briefing. As new graduates, you have a final test tomorrow where you will be judged as a team by your Jonin instructors. If you fail, you'll go back to the academy for another year. Get some sleep tonight and meet me at team 10's training grounds tomorrow at 8 A.M. sharp. I look forward to testing your skills. I'll see if you have what it takes to be true genin."

"Wait, what?!" Ino spouted, but she never got a response as Asuma disappeared a moment later.

She shook her head, "We have another test?! Seriously?! Ughh…and here I thought I could finally relax now that I'm an actual shinobi!"

"Now that we're actual shinobi, we should work even harder. The only easy day was yesterday, Ino," Naruto said dismissively.

She crossed her arms with displeasure, "And here my parents threw me a party and everything…how am I supposed to celebrate knowing I have another test tomorrow?!"

"Well, I'll see you two tomorrow then…" Naruto waved as he leapt onto the balcony railing.

"W-wait! I wasn't done-" Ino never got to finish speaking as Naruto disappeared into the distance a moment later.

"Talking to you…" Ino finished the sentence to herself.

She briefly glanced over at Hinata and sighed, "Well, see you tomorrow I guess."

"G-goodnight Ino-san," Hinata replied respectfully as the blonde girl left.

 **Senju Grove**

As Naruto returned to his usual incognito sanctuary, he noticed Tobirama's ethereal form sitting down looking off into the distance. He approached silently and walked up next to his sensei.

The white-haired man turned to face Naruto with a stern look, "How did your graduation go?"

"It was fine…a bit boring, but they gave us our headbands. I'm surprised you didn't come to see it, honestly," Naruto responded casually.

The man stood up a moment later as he fixed his gaze on Naruto. He looked at the hitae-ate on the boy's forehead, "It's not really a celebration, but I'm sure you know that already. Today marks the day you are a true Konoha shinobi. Do you understand what that means?"

"It means the village's protection is now my sworn duty, and that I will one day have to give my life to defend it if necessary," Naruto answered stoically.

Tobirama nodded, "Good…it's been three years since we first met. In that time, I have taught you all that could about what it means to be a true shinobi. You must always remain vigilant, and you must always train hard. War could strike when you least expect it, and anyone could kill you if you're careless. Even Hashirama and I died in battle, Naruto. It only gets harder from here."

"The only easy day was yesterday, right?" Naruto reaffirmed his sensei's words.

"Indeed…there is also something I want to tell you now that you're officially a Konoha shinobi," Tobirama stated as he stared into Naruto's eyes.

The blonde eyed his sensei with intensity, "What is it, sensei?"

"I will be leaving you," he said slowly which caused Naruto's eyes to widen considerably.

"Tobirama-sensei, you can't! I-I did everything you said…" Naruto trailed off in sentence as he was unsure of how to word his feelings.

The man immediately silenced him with a stern tone, "You did everything and more…there's not much more I could have asked for in an apprentice, but you have to move on now. I'm dead, Naruto, and the only reason I've lingered here this long was to ensure that you were properly trained and that the village would be safe. Now that you're a real shinobi, you'll have a team and a jonin to look after you. Take my lessons to heart and use your power responsibly. It's time for me to leave now."

"Y-you can't…sensei, I don't want to be alone. What am I supposed to do when you're gone?!" Naruto said with urgent desperation.

"Pass on my teachings to others. Defend Konoha no matter what it takes…and I mean no matter what. You're the last true Senju heir…the last true Uzumaki. Defend that legacy and bring honor to it," Tobirama said strongly.

Naruto looked a bit sad, but he maintained his toughened emotional stoicism. The blonde bowed his head respectfully, "It was an honor sensei…I swear to you that I'll defend Konoha at all costs."

"Hopefully the next time we meet, we can talk about your reign as Hokage," Tobirama smiled faintly before his ghost body flaked away and disappeared completely. After it was gone, Naruto felt a wave of depression wash over him.

Even though Tobirama was already dead, part of him felt like his sensei had just died. Who was he going to ask for wisdom and advice now? Who was going to help him when he had problems with certain jutsus?

The boy cleared his head after the brief sadness, _'He's entrusted Konoha's protection to me…he wouldn't have left unless he was confident that I was ready. I won't fail you sensei…I'll reignite the glory of the Senju and Uzumaki clans. I will be the greatest jinchuuriki…the greatest hokage.'_

 **"Well you still have me around,"** Kyuubi spoke up lifting Naruto from his thoughts.

 _'Yeah, I'm glad I have somebody to help me through the rest of this. It's just you and me now, Kurama.'_

" **You and me versus the world, haha. I'm surprised you didn't even consider your new team,"** the fox added.

Naruto frowned, _'I don't know what to think of my team yet. I doubt I'll ever be close with them…they won't understand when they find out I'm a jinchuuriki. I'll help them out, but I don't see a point in trying to make friends. It's just going to bite me in the ass.'_

" **Yeah, it's probably best that you don't get too attached to them. Becoming Hokage is one thing but making the village like you is another thing entirely. I honestly don't think they'll ever understand. I'll always be the monster fox to them, and you'll always be the demon brat,"** Kurama sighed.

' _Sometimes we have to bear a heavy burden for the sake of others. I'll become Hokage even if they hate me. I owe it to Tobirama-sensei and to my father to defend Konoha. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess. C'mon, Kurama, let's train. Even though sensei's gone, I can't slack at all,'_ Naruto thought as he created a ton of shadow clones.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Alright, there's chapter two of this story. I know it seems a bit rushed and expositional, but that's just for this beginning part. I really didn't feel like writing out five chapters of Naruto training and learning stuff. Too much of that gets boring, and most of you have probably seen it a hundred times before. So anyway, Naruto is ridiculously powerful and has access to a plethora of broken abilities. If you think he's strong now, then wait until later chapters…

So that aside, I put Naruto on a different team than team seven. Personally, I don't feel like writing about them too much, and we've all seen the overpowered Naruto in team seven fics plenty of times too. I wanted to mix things up a bit by throwing him on a team with Ino and Hinata.

Hopefully you guys like the direction so far. As you can see, Naruto is technically a good guy in this fic, but he's very pessimistic and realistic. He still wants to be Hokage, but he believes that nobody will ever love or understand him for being a jinchuuriki. Let me know what you think so far and if I should continue this on a semi-regular basis.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Team Ten**

 **A/N:** Alright guys, so I normally don't respond directly to reviews, but I just wanted to clear some things up before we continue. A lot of people complained about the water walking thing, which I wanted to address. I was surprised that people didn't believe Naruto could walk on water, but nobody questioned him doing Edo Tensei to summon Tobirama's spirit. The former being common among genin and the latter being an S-class forbidden jutsu. Seems a bit strange to me, but whatever I guess. That was a surprising nitpick, but I suppose it could be considered a minor error on my part. I apologize if that bothered anyone, but honestly, I didn't even think it was an issue. I mean Kakashi graduated the academy when he was 5. Rin and Obito graduated at 9. Itachi graduated at 7 and had his Sharingan at 8. All of the Sannin graduated at 6. It's not out of the realms of possibility that they all knew how to water walk when they were Genin and well before 10. Naruto was in the Academy since he was like 6 or 7, I think. In canon, he could already do basic ninja things like rooftop jumping and other stuff when he was a young academy student. While he was certainly no genius in canon, he is much more intelligent in this story. With all that said, I don't feel like it's that much of a stretch. Sorry if that's an issue for some people, but it is what it is. This is an AU fanfiction and not canon, so give me a pass on this one guys.

Another thing I wanted to mention was the harem requests and the Hinata thing. I tend to hate most canon pairings in anime, and I find them boring to read or write about unless one of the characters is way different than they are in canon. While I do like her, I'm not really a big NaruHina fan personally. I'll probably get lynched for saying this, but I never felt like she and Naruto had much chemistry. I find their relationship almost as shallow and forced as SasuSaku. In my opinion, Naruto's got more chemistry with half of his filler or movie girlfriends. When I started this fic, I didn't intend for Hinata to be in the harem…at least not as a primary contender or a main girl. I still haven't decided on that yet, but If she is, then it will be a minor thing compared to the "main" girls. That or Hinata is going to be OOC which probably deters the NaruHina fans anyway. Either way, I'm going to toughen her up in this story and make her a competent kunoichi unlike canon Hinata, so don't be surprised.

Also, as far as my harems go in the stories I write, they typically take a backseat to the main plot of the story and the action. Anyone who's read my Bleach fic, "White" knows exactly what I'm talking about here. I've heard the requests so far, and you'll be happy to know I've considered some of them. Unfortunately, I can't please everyone, and I don't intend to. I will honestly be content if even two thirds of you guys like it. Naruto fans are extremely divisive and hard to please…which is one of the main reasons I put off writing a Naruto fic for so long. I hope that my future decisions don't sour anyone to the story, but if so then oh well. This is my hobby, not my job. Accept it for what it is or move on if you can't. I'll do the best I can regardless.

 **Hokage Tower, Jonin Meeting**

Several dozen jonin were having their daily meeting this morning near the Hokage Tower. Namely among them were all of the Jonin that were newly assigned a genin team.

"How many genin graduates did we get this year?" one of the men asked curiously.

"30 in the newest class and about 54 returning ones," another jonin answered.

One of them seemed surprised, "30? That's more than the last few years."

"Yeah, well I doubt we'll see more than half of them pass to become full-fledged genin," a female jonin shook her head.

"I wouldn't be so sure…this year has some promising graduates. The last Uchiha boy is one of the new graduates, and half a dozen graduates from clans are in that class too," the first man noted.

"I also heard the demon brat is in the new class…I can't believe they let _him_ become a ninja," a dissatisfied jonin huffed.

"You're talking about _that_ child, right? The fox boy?" someone else added.

The first man nodded, "Yeah, I feel bad for whoever has to be that kid's sensei. They'll have to worry about him killing his teammates or something."

"I doubt he'll actually pass the teamwork test, so what does it matter?" the woman scoffed.

Another woman joined in the conversation a moment later, "I think he graduated second overall behind the Uchiha boy."

"You're joking, right Kurenai?" the first man said with a disbelieving laugh.

"No, I heard from one of the chunin who instructed their class that he was actually pretty skilled," the dark-haired woman responded calmly.

"For real? He beat out all of the clan member kids in that class?" another person interrupted.

Kurenai nodded, "Yeah, he beat Inuzuka, Akimichi, Nara, Yamanaka, Hyuuga, and Aburame. The only person he didn't beat was Uchiha."

A certain jonin there with blonde hair crossed his arms disbelievingly, "I refuse to believe that kid beat my daughter. She was ranked second for years behind Sasuke Uchiha and was neck and neck with the Aburame boy. I can't believe they put that fox kid on my daughter's team too. What were they thinking?"

"My son speaks pretty highly of him, Inoichi. I don't think it's as bad as you're imagining," Shikaku shook his head.

Inoichi turned his gaze towards his former teammate, "Your boy doesn't know any better…"

"My boy is a genius…even if he is lazy. Shikamaru is not one to misread people," Shikaku sighed.

Inoichi shook his head, "People…not demons."

"He's just a kid, Inoichi," Shikaku sighed.

"For now…" the blonde man said with a low growl.

Shikaku glanced over at Choza Akimichi, "What's your son think of the boy, Choza?"

"Chouji said he's quiet and antisocial. Seems kind of odd to me since I distinctly recall that kid pulling pranks for a few years. From what my son has said, the boy never initiates conversations," Choza answered.

Someone interrupted their conversation with disgust, "No doubt the demon is starting to affect him…is it really a good idea to ignore something like that?! A vast change in his psyche could mean the demon is gaining control."

Inoichi grimaced as he immediately turned his gaze towards the silent Asuma at the edge of the crowd, "Asuma…as my friend I implore you to keep my daughter safe in case the fox brat tries anything. If anything happens to her, I'll kill him!"

Asuma sighed heavily, "Sure, Inoichi…but I don't really think that's going to be necessary. Naruto Uzumaki is kept under watch by Sandaime-sama and Anbu regularly. Besides, he doesn't seem like a bad kid to me."

"For my daughter's sake, I hope not," Inoichi shook his head.

"Wait, you're the demon kid's jonin sensei?" another person gasped.

Asuma nodded, "Yes."

"Sucks for you then…I don't envy you Asuma-senpai," the man laughed.

Kurenai glanced over at Asuma's carefree face. She frowned when she saw a bit of disappointment in his eyes, _'He looks troubled by all of this. Does it bother him to be Uzumaki's sensei?'_

"Sandaime-sama entrusted me to keep an eye on the boy and to show him the same treatment I would any other genin. I have every intention to treat him with the fairness he deserves. Besides, the kid has every reason to be antisocial considering that most people hate him," Asuma replied calmly.

"That monster doesn't deserve fairness…you're too nice, Asuma-san," a woman shook her head.

"That fox brat shouldn't be a ninja! What is the Hokage thinking? If they want to weaponize the fox, then they should keep him away from the regular ninja. Let Danzo-sama have him," A man growled.

In the corner of the meeting, a certain grey-haired man with a mask looked up casually. He sighed heavily catching everyone's attention, "You guys realize he's a jinchuuriki and not the Kyuubi right?"

"That doesn't excuse anything, Kakashi! That boy could transform into that monster when we least expect it!" Inoichi hissed.

The masked man simply shrugged, "If you say so…"

"Don't forget the Hokage's law, you two! We can't talk openly about this in public," another jonin spoke up.

"Like that's stopped anyone so far…" Asuma sighed.

"Who else is on that team with your daughter, Inoichi-san?" Kurenai changed the subject.

The tension slightly derailed as the man responded, "I believe it's a Hyuuga girl."

"A Hyuuga? Well that's promising at least. Shame they couldn't put all of our kids together," Choza chuckled.

"That would have been ideal…at least I know I can trust your sons around my precious daughter," Inoichi groaned.

"You coddle that girl too much, Inoichi. Sometimes change is a good thing. Maybe she'll become stronger from this," Shikaku replied.

Asuma shook his head, "Your daughter is in good hands with me, Inoichi…so relax."

"She better be…" he said slowly.

"Who got the Uchiha boy?" someone else asked after a brief silence.

Kurenai immediately answered, "I believe Kakashi did…though it's hardly surprising."

"Lucky you. I'd love to have a prodigy genin. None of my kids look all that impressive," the first man from earlier spoke up.

The copy-nin yawned, "Yeah, I'm sure he'll be okay."

"Well, I should probably go now," Asuma spoke up as he made his way towards the training grounds.

"Let us know how it goes, Asuma-senpai! I'm actually curious if that fox kid is any good," someone announced.

Asuma waved, "I'll let you know."

 **Team Ten Training Grounds**

After a brief bit of searching, Naruto quickly found the location of Team Ten's training ground. He calmly walked towards his destination without much urgency. He was currently not in a hurry to get there as he did not sense Asuma anywhere nearby.

As he passed through a brief clearing of trees, he finally came upon the destination. It looked somewhat isolated but was closer to the urban areas than he preferred. Nevertheless, he thought it was neatly tucked away and that it looked appropriate to train in.

' _Hmm, this place wouldn't be so bad if it was a secret. Maybe I'm just too used to the Senju Grove, but I don't really like it being so close to everything in the village,'_ Naruto thought as he examined the area.

He immediately stopped and looked up when he sensed a familiar individual nearby. Sitting up in a tree branch was none other than Ino. Her eyes went wide when Naruto spotted her. He let his gaze briefly linger before looking forward again to continue his survey of the training grounds.

' _It looks like there are two primary points of entry between all of these trees. That rock formation covers the east side, but someone could come over that I suppose. It would be pretty easy to set traps around this place. Lots of good cover too for ambushes,'_ the boy continued.

"Hey, you just going to ignore me now?" Ino's voice interrupted his thoughts.

He turned around and saw the girl leaning against a tree now with crossed arms. The jinchuuriki gave her a brief nod of acknowledgement, "Oh hey, Ino."

"I'm shocked to see you're here early…" she said shaking her head.

"Why's that?" he asked.

"You always walked into class right when it started, or you were late. I can't believe you're here fifteen minutes early," she noted.

The boy shrugged, "Well believe it, because I actually don't want to go back to that damn academy for another year. If we weren't at peace, they would have allowed early graduations and I would have been out of there sooner."

"You hated it that bad huh? Why exactly? I thought the academy was actually pretty fun," she responded.

"That's exactly why I hated it. We're training to become ninjas…we don't have time for fun when there's so much to learn. The academy teaches a lot of useful things…some of which could mean the difference between life and death on the battlefield," Naruto explained.

"Jeez…way to go all doom and gloom on me. It's okay to live a little…besides, we're at peace, and why should we take the beginning of our shinobi careers so seriously anyways?" Ino replied with a disapproving look on her face.

"Peace is never lasting…and it breeds ignorance and laziness. We should always be vigilant as shinobi. Otherwise, what is the point of being shinobi at all?" Naruto countered.

Ino scoffed at him, "Dude, chill out with that. You're not in Anbu yet. Just because we had fun doesn't mean that we took it less seriously. My dad's a jonin, so I know all about what it takes to be a shinobi."

"I'm not implying you were wrong for doing it…but someone like me can't afford to. I want to become Hokage one day and that takes personal sacrifice," Naruto replied.

Ino rolled her eyes, "Seriously, like what the hell happened to you? When we first started the academy, you were always goofing off and laughing. Did something trigger a change? Did Sasuke-kun hit you too hard on the head one day?"

"Why do you care?" he wondered.

"Because we're teammates…and because it's weird! You ran off the other day before I got an answer. Care to explain?" she asked.

"What's there to explain?" he shrugged.

Ino huffed in annoyance, "Oh I don't know, maybe why you're a sensory ninja and you never told anyone? Maybe how you know wind ninjutsu and medical ninjutsu without any reasonable explanation!? Maybe why you take everything so damn seriously now?"

"I learned that stuff from a clan member of mine…" Naruto framed the truth in a vague way.

"A clan member? I thought you said you were the last member of your clan?" Ino cocked her head in confusion.

"I'm the last living member In Konoha…" Naruto followed up.

" **This is amusing…you're technically telling the truth,"** Kyuubi laughed.

Ino seemed interested now as she walked closer, "Wait, so someone from outside the village taught you?"

"No, he was from here," Naruto replied.

"So where is he now then? Why did this guy leave?" Ino prodded.

"He's dead…" Naruto said grimly with a heavy tone.

"Oh…sorry I didn't realize," Ino trailed off with a bit of shame.

The jinchuuriki didn't bother responding as he stared off for a moment, _'This conversation with her brings up a good point that I hadn't fully considered. How am I going to explain any of this to grandpa Hokage if he finds out? It's only a matter of time before Asuma-sensei realizes that I know elemental ninjutsu.'_

" **Didn't Nidaime tell you not to let the Hokage know about you using the scroll? I guess it's probably a good idea to come up with a decent cover story. How are you going to explain this to him?"** Kurama asked.

' _I probably don't have to tell him anything at all. The old man has got nothing on me, and I can avoid his Anbu spies or that scrying orb thing he does anyways. I'm technically not lying to Ino about a clan member training me, and grandpa Hokage has no way to really find out. So long as I keep myself limited to basic jutsus, then it shouldn't be too suspicious,'_ Naruto shrugged.

" **They're bound to be extremely suspicious if you refuse to give an answer,"** Kurama sighed.

' _Let them be suspicious…I can outmaneuver them, and they have no way of learning my secrets unless I tell them. If the old man starts asking questions, I'll just tell him that every shinobi has their secrets. What's he going to do, force it out of me?'_ Naruto replied.

The fox seemed uncertain, **"Well that's probably fine so long as you keep your wood release and flying raijin abilities to yourself. Though even that shadow clone jutsu was in the forbidden scroll. I'd be careful using shadow clones in front of anyone."**

' _Good point, Kurama…I'll definitely keep that in mind,'_ Naruto replied.

"So, you really miss this guy then huh? Is that why you're always so focused and antisocial now?" Ino interrupted Naruto's thoughts with a question.

Naruto looked at her with a bit of emotion seeping from his eyes, "Yeah, I do miss him. He was like a father to me…especially since I never knew mine."

"So what happened to your parents exactly?" Ino wondered.

"They died," he answered bluntly as he began to walk away.

"Yeah…but how?" Ino followed.

Naruto stopped as he glanced back at her again, "Defending the village."

Ino looked away briefly, "Sorry for being so rude, but I was genuinely curious about it. I don't mean to be insensitive."

"It's fine…you didn't know," Naruto replied with a calmer and lighter tone to alleviate the mood.

"Wait, I just thought of something…so where do you live and how do you afford anything if you're an orphan? How did you pay to go to the academy?" Ino asked.

"I have an apartment, and I get a monthly welfare allowance from the village. Can you please stop with this interrogation? I think I've talked enough about myself now." Naruto sighed.

"Okay, I'll let it go…but seriously that's stuff I never knew. I guess that explains why you're so quiet all the time," Ino noted.

A long and awkward silence passed as Naruto walked further away and sat down against a tree. He reflexively spun his kunai around as he stared blankly at it, _'Tobirama-sensei…what am I going to do without him? I used to look forward to seeing him every day after school…what the hell do I have to look forward to now?'_

" **You really thought of him as a father?"** Kyuubi spoke up confused.

' _Sort of_ … _maybe more like a badass uncle. Either way, he always had an answer for all of my problems. The world seemed so orderly and logical with him around. Everything just made sense when he was here. All of my goals and dreams weren't just baseless wishes anymore…they were mapped out and achievable. No matter how hard his training was, I pushed myself because I wanted to make him proud of me. I don't know what having a father is like, but that's how I always imagined it when I was younger. It's only been one day, and I'm already losing focus. He would berate me for this lapse in discipline if he saw me right now.'_ Naruto thought with disappointment.

"Hey, so Naruto…" Ino broke the silence again as she walked up next to him and leaned against his tree.

He looked up at her curiously, "What is it?"

She looked a bit uncomfortable as she spoke up slowly, "I know you're probably sick of answering questions, but there's something serious I wanted to talk to you about. My dad acted really weird when I told him I was on a team with you. He told me to avoid you as much as possible…"

"Did he? That's strange…" Naruto shook his head.

"What's the deal with that? How does my father know who you are? When I asked him, he just told me that you were trouble. What did you do?" she said with a confused look.

Naruto shook his head, "Well, I used to pull pranks all the time and I was pretty bad about damaging public property. Maybe he's still mad about it."

Ino crossed her arms again, "My dad's not that uptight…he can take a joke. Are you sure there's nothing I should know about?"

"If it was relevant enough, I'm sure he would have told you something himself. I really couldn't say," Naruto feigned ignorance.

" **I almost forgot these brats have families. I'm kind of surprised he didn't just tell her what you are,"** Kurama sighed.

' _I remember overhearing some people gossip about it a while back. They said it was a law not to talk about my situation. That's why all the adults know, but nobody my age does,'_ Naruto pointed out.

" **Oh that's right…wasn't that the day you went to buy paint for your armor?"** the fox clarified.

' _Yep, that's the one. Speaking of which, I want to paint my armor and readjust it later today. That would be a good project since I don't have any scheduled training,'_ Naruto replied.

" **I saw you bought a whole bunch of different paint colors. What color did you decide on?"** Kurama asked.

' _Well I thought about blue, so I could look more like Tobirama-sensei, but blue's not really my color. The green looks good, but it's too iconic. I'm not ready to announce to the world that I'm part Senju. Red's too much like Shodaime-sama. I thought about yellow or orange to be honest,'_ Naruto shrugged.

" **Paint it orange…don't you like that color anyways? It just so happens to be my fur's color as well. I think it would be appropriately unique…especially for my jinchuuriki,"** Kurama noted.

' _Like a lighter orange? Hmm…that might work. Maybe I'll paint the red Uzumaki Clan symbol on it too,'_ Naruto thought approvingly.

" **Well orange and black look good together, and it just so happens to be my favorite color…plus then you'll actually match me,"** the fox said suggestively.

' _I didn't think you cared for such things, but orange it is. I think that'll look good,'_ the boy agreed.

"Did you hear what I said? Naruto, you there?!" Ino waved her hand in front of his face.

He looked up sharply, "Huh?"

"Jeez, were you even listening to me?! I said Hinata just showed up," Ino exclaimed.

Naruto glanced over and saw his shy Hyuuga teammate walking over. She had in fact just arrived and was nervously approaching her new team.

"Good morning, Hinata," Ino waved as the dark-haired girl finally reached them.

She poked her fingers together as she looked down, "G-good morning Ino-chan, N-Naruto-kun."

"Hey, Hinata, I have a question for you…" Ino spoke up after a brief silence causing Hinata to redden slightly.

"Y-yes?" Hinata responded.

She looked over at Naruto and then the Hyuuga girl again, "Did your family say anything when you told them about your team?"

"N-not really. My father didn't c-care all that much," she replied somewhat sadly.

Ino sighed heavily, "Guess it's just my dad then…he freaked out when I told him Naruto was on my team."

"W-what? Why?" Hinata spoke up with curiosity.

"Beats me…Naruto has no idea either," Ino shrugged.

"W-well a lot of adults u-used to tell children to avoid Naruto-kun," Hinata noted.

Ino looked confused, "They did?"

"Y-yeah…don't tell me you've never noticed, Ino-chan," Hinata responded.

"Why would my dad have a problem with Naruto though? I'm amazed he even knows the guy considering how Naruto is never seen in public as far as I'm aware," Ino scoffed.

Naruto tuned his teammates out as they got into a brief conversation about Ino's father being upset.

" **I'm surprised the Hyuuga girl was that perceptive as a young child,"** Kurama scoffed.

' _Being on this team is probably going to be an issue at some point. I seriously hope Ino's dad doesn't tell her I'm a jinchuuriki anytime soon…at least not until I'm a chunin and I can get another position. Things will be really awkward when they find out…'_ Naruto thought solemnly.

" **I'll be honest, Naruto…I still hate this village and the annoying humans in it. I'm humoring your goal to become Hokage because I like you and because you're my friend. Make no mistake…I don't feel any loyalty to this place. Whenever you're gone, I have no intention of ever coming back here…otherwise I'd be too tempted to annihilate Konoha. These people make me sick,"** the fox said somewhat aggressively.

' _I understand, Kurama…and I don't blame you. If it wasn't for Tobirama-sensei, I'd have given up on ever trying to become anything in this village. I feel honor bound to my clans to continue their legacy, but I'm getting really tired of being a pariah. I can count the number of people that actually like me on one hand. Old man Sandaime, Iruka-sensei, Tobirama-sensei, you, and…I guess that's it,'_ Naruto replied.

" **I'm surprised your academy sensei actually likes you …I think it's because he believes you're a victim like he was. If he knew that you and I were friends, things would probably be a different story. I think he just feels sorry for you,"** Kurama said pessimistically.

Naruto frowned, _'Yeah, that's unfortunately true most likely. Still, I'd rather have your friendship than his. If none of these people can accept me for being a jinchuuriki, then so be it. You and I will just tag team the world and I'll prove that I'm better than every one of them.'_

" **Even after these last few years, I still find it strange that you would choose friendship with me over a human that's willing to accept you.** **You're the complete opposite of your self-righteous and whiny mother,"** Kurama noted.

' _I know you don't like her, but please don't bad mouth my mom. I forgave you a long time ago for what happened to them, but I still don't want to hear that,'_ Naruto said disapprovingly.

" **I'm not sorry for saying it…Kushina was my least favorite jinchuuriki host and she's not much different than these villagers that detest you,"** Kurama countered.

The blonde seemed confused, _'How so?'_

" **It's difficult to explain. You've had it the worst out of all my jinchuuriki. Kushina had it the best…nobody even knew she was a jinchuuriki except a select few. Yet in spite of this, she suppressed my power completely and saw me as a monster…just like the rest of them. She had a self-pitying attitude about it and kept it a secret out of shame. You on the other hand have been willing to embrace it wholly. You don't pretend like you're not a jinchuuriki,"** Kurama explained.

' _I suppose I can see where you're coming from. It's hard to like someone who rejects you. So you and my mom never talked much then?'_ Naruto wondered.

" **Obviously not…forget I said anything. I suppose it's wrong of me to sully the memories of your parents. I can tell you one thing for certain though…they did love you."** Kurama said with sigh diffusing the tension.

' _Well that's something at least. Let's just not talk about this anymore. I didn't know them, so who am I to say you're wrong. Besides my mother, what was your other jinchuuriki like?'_ Naruto changed the subject.

" **I don't think I ever talked much about Mito's life, did I? It was slightly better than yours…but only because she had a family. I think you should be aware of the realities of being a jinchuuriki even under the best of circumstances. Mito was an adult when I was sealed into her. Nobody knew at first except a few of her clan members and Hashirama Senju. I watched how her own clan members started treating her differently when they found out…this was even before I had any kind of reputation for slaughtering Konoha or Uzushio nin. While they weren't openly hostile, they subjected Mito to an even worse fate…fear, isolation, and disingenuous comradery. People rarely came near by choice except her own children and Hashirama himself. Just think about that for a moment. Even before I became the demon fox and was a monster to your village, people still treated her like she wasn't human. I don't want to discourage you for trying to prove to the world that jinchuurikis aren't evil, but I think it's something you should be aware of. So long as anyone knows you're a jinchuuriki, then you'll always be a pariah to the population at large. Kushina knew this, and that's why she kept me hidden away and why Mito kept herself hidden away."** Kurama explained with a heavy tone.

' _I hope you're wrong, Kurama…otherwise what was the point of all this?'_ Naruto said distantly.

The jinchuuriki tuned back into reality when he heard Ino complaining, "I still can't believe we have to do ANOTHER test even though we already graduated."

Naruto stood up and looked between his two teammates briefly, "So I've been thinking about what this test is about…"

"Really? And what have you come up with then?" Ino wondered.

The jinchuuriki paused for a moment as he looked at Ino intensely, "I think it's some sort of psychological test to see how we'll handle being a genin team. I'm not sure what the objective is, but it's probably best that we work together to accomplish it."

"So like teamwork then? Is that what you think this is about?" Ino clarified.

Naruto shrugged, "Maybe…but I can't think of any other reason they'd have to test us the day after we joined our teams."

"Hmm, that's a good point I suppose," Ino nodded.

" **I've seen this nonsense before with Kushina…it's a teamwork test. You were actually right about that,"** Kurama interjected.

' _You could have told me that sooner…'_ Naruto sighed mentally.

" **It didn't seem very relevant, and you were focused on other things,"** the fox replied.

"N-Naruto-kun, I-" Hinata never got to finish her remark as Ino interrupted.

The blonde girl sighed dramatically, "Ughh, it's already 8 A.M…where's Asuma-sensei? Do you sense him yet, Naruto?"

He looked around for a moment before kneeling to the ground and touching it. This was a sensory technique that was inherent to Tobirama, but the Nidaime had taught Naruto a lesser version of it. Sending his chakra through the ground, Naruto traced all life signs in the immediate vicinity. So far, its max range was only about a kilometer at the most, and dense terrain made things more difficult.

Nevertheless, Naruto did detect a distinct chakra nature closing in on the training grounds at a somewhat urgent pace. Upon opening his eyes, Naruto saw Ino staring at him intensely.

"Well?" She demanded with impatience.

"He's close. About half a kilometer out from the east side. By my estimate, he'll be here in two minutes or so if he runs," Naruto answered.

A bit of envy filled her eyes as Ino huffed in disapproval, "My dad's a jonin and a sensory ninja too. He's never just touched the ground and knew where someone was. That's the kind of ability I'd expect someone in Anbu to have."

"Yeah…well maybe I'll end up there at some point. I'm probably better suited for that type of work anyway," Naruto shrugged.

"N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata spoke up again.

He turned his gaze towards the shy Hyuuga, "What is it, Hinata?"

"W-where did you learn a-all of this s-stuff?" she stuttered nervously.

"Oh, he told me about that before you arrived, Hinata…apparently some clan member of his taught Naruto," Ino answered for him.

"A clan member? But I've never seen Naruto-kun with-" Hinata immediately stopped mid-sentence as realized what she was saying.

"Well considering he knew you were around when you followed him, I highly doubt you would have," Ino surmised logically.

Hinata stared at Naruto for a brief moment, _'I wonder if he has a bloodline? Maybe this sensory ability of his is the Uzumaki bloodline?'_

Just then another thought crossed Hinata's mind as she looked between Ino and Naruto, _'How long were they both here alone? Maybe I should have come earlier. Naruto-kun seems more willing to talk to Ino-chan than me.'_

"What else did you two t-talk about?" Hinata asked Ino specifically.

Naruto was quick to notice that she stuttered less when not speaking to him. He gave it some thought as he watched Hinata's expression, _'She's way too skittish around me. Do you think it's out of fear or is she simply shy?'_

" **Who knows. I have a hard time understanding mortals…especially the female ones. It doesn't look like fear, but she's clearly nervous around you,"** Kurama noted.

' _Do you think she knows I'm a jinchuuriki? That's a good possibility for why she acts like that.'_ Naruto wondered.

" **The other explanation is she's attracted to you, but I wouldn't put any weight behind that theory. Humans are fickle…especially these young female ones. You never know if it's genuine or deceptive,"** Kurama shook his head.

' _You think she might like me?'_ Naruto asked shocked.

" **Possibly, but even if she does, I doubt it's for any noteworthy reason. This girl doesn't even know you. How could you trust her intentions? If it's true, then she's probably like those other girls in your class that admired the Uchiha brat for some shallow reason. The only difference being she would see you as appealing instead of him."**

' _I'm not going to try opening that door any time soon. She's a clan heir, so that's out of the question…plus I have no idea if it's even true or not. Even if it is, it won't end well when she finds out what I am,'_ Naruto thought dismissively.

" **That's likely for the best,"** the fox agreed.

"You're way too skittish, Hinata…you need to relax and stop freaking out around me," Naruto spoke up catching the shy Hyuuga girl's attention.

She seemed a bit surprised by Naruto's remark as she looked down shamefully, "I-I'm sorry, Naruto-kun…"

"Why are you so nervous around me, anyways?" Naruto asked her bluntly.

"I…" Hinata couldn't answer as she avoided eye contact.

"Whatever it is, you need to put it aside for now. Our team doesn't need distractions like that. I have a hard time getting along with shy people, so I'd appreciate it if you were more direct with me from now on. I promise I'm not going to get offended or angry. I need to know that I can count on you in battle," Naruto spoke sternly to the girl.

She seemed a bit shaken by his words but surprisingly receptive as she forced herself to maintain eye contact now.

Ino looked appalled by his comment. The blonde girl immediately voiced her opinion, "Hey, that's kind of mean, Naruto…that's just how she is. You shouldn't be a jerk just because she's shy."

"That's fine, but I was just being honest with her. I can't read her mind, so unless she's more open, we'll never be good teammates." he said distantly.

The blonde girl looked at the jinchuuriki's face closely, _'Does he have any idea that Hinata has a crush on him? It sure doesn't look like it. He has terrible social etiquette…though I suppose that's not surprising for an orphan. Jeez…who knew he was such a tool?'_

Before the situation could become more awkward, Asuma finally arrived to greet his new team. He waved at them as he came closer, "Hey, good to see you all here this morning Team Ten."

"Good morning Asuma-sensei," Ino acknowledged him first.

"Hey sensei," Naruto waved.

"Good to see you, Sensei…" Hinata managed to say aloud. She seemed less audible than before but wasn't stuttering now.

Asuma quickly noticed an unusual tension between the three genin as he surveyed them, _'Did something happen? Well, this might not be a passing team after all if they can't resolve it.'_

"You're late, Asuma-sensei," Ino immediately announced with her arms folded.

He nodded, "Yeah, sorry about that guys. We had a Jonin meeting earlier that lasted a little longer than usual. How are you all getting along so far?"

"Fine for now…but Naruto really needs to pull the stick out of his butt and lighten up," Ino said disapprovingly.

" **I find it strange that she would think so considering how much she fawns over the Uchiha boy when he acts serious,"** Kyuubi scoffed.

' _Who cares…I just want to get this crap over with, so I can go do something productive today,'_ Naruto thought with mental exhaustion.

Asuma looked at her confused before turning towards Naruto, "What's the problem exactly?"

"Nothing serious, sensei…I'm just a little bit on edge today," Naruto replied.

"Understandable…but there's no need to stress over this test that much. It's not going to be that bad," he said reassuringly.

"S-Sensei…what is our test?" Hinata asked the man with uncharacteristic boldness.

"Alright guys, so here's the deal. In order to become full-fledged genin, you're all going to have to pass this test I've prepared for you. If anyone fails, they're going to be sent back to the academy for another year," Asuma explained casually.

The three genin perked up with curiosity as Asuna held up two bells in his hand, "I have two bells here, and there's three of you. In order to become a full-fledged genin, you need to retrieve one of these bells."

"But…if there's only two bells, does that mean someone won't pass?" Ino asked uncertainly.

"That's exactly what it means. We stress the importance of teamwork to achieve goals, but sometimes there has to be sacrifices too. This is a way to test how you'll handle that," Asuma replied as he clipped the bells onto his waist.

"So one o-of us h-has to be the sacrifice?" Hinata gulped fearfully. There was no doubt that she assumed it would be her.

"How is this test fair at all? I mean if we're supposed to be a team, then leaving someone behind doesn't seem like a good thing to do…" Ino noted.

Asuma shrugged, "That's something you're going to have to figure out then."

' _This test makes no sense…passing two and failing one? Did my mom ever do anything like this, Kurama?'_ Naruto asked.

The fox sighed, **"Not really…she had some other lame test she had to do. Her sensei was mostly testing their teamwork I believe. Though that was back in the last shinobi war where they really couldn't afford to fail any potential genin that could be used on the battlefield. Honestly, I don't know…just wing it."**

A moment later Asuma got into a fighting stance. Ino looked shocked, Hinata nervous, and Naruto dead serious.

"Don't hold back against me…I'm a jonin and I doubt any of you could hurt me anyways," Asuma said calmly with a smile.

" **That's not a bet he should take against you…"** the fox laughed.

' _I'm surprised he would say that knowing that I'm a jinchuuriki. Granted I don't know how much I could really do against him without high level ninjutsu or my secret abilities,'_ Naruto noted.

"The test begins now," Asuma announced. Upon hearing his words, Naruto and his teammates immediately retreated to cover a good distance away.

Both girls followed him and were looking at Naruto for some type of guidance. A brief silence passed before Ino spoke up, "This is ridiculous…why's there only two bells?"

"T-this definitely explains why so many genin graduates came back to the academy last year…" Hinata said grimly.

"Come to think of it, I do recall seeing a lot of remedial genin in our upper class…how come I never noticed this before?!" Ino trailed off as she clenched a fist.

"W-what do we do then, Naruto-kun?" Hinata immediately asked Naruto for the answer.

He looked between her and Ino for a moment and shook his head, "I don't think it really matters if there's only two bells. This situation is meant to simulate the importance of retrieving a battlefield objective it seems. I think if we get both bells and work as a team, then we'll pass."

"Yeah…two of us will pass," Ino said grimly.

"Let's just focus on getting the bells first, alright?" he affirmed.

"Okay, so what's the plan then?" Ino asked.

"We have to use our strengths against him. Hinata, you're probably the best at taijutsu, so you should go draw him into melee range and keep him distracted. Use your gentle fist and your Byakugan if you can. Ino, you and I need to work on setting up an ambush," Naruto explained.

She tilted her head curiously, "Right…so what did you have in mind?"

"Your clan can use the mind transfer jutsu right?" Naruto asked her.

Ino looked a bit surprised by Naruto's insight, but nodded slowly, "Yeah…how did you know that?"

"I do my research…it doesn't matter. I'm going to put him in a position to where you can get him with that jutsu. It'll immobilize Asuma-sensei and allow us to get the bells. Whenever you do it, Hinata should fall back and cover your body while I grab the bells. Afterwards, we'll retreat and hopefully from there, we'll win."

The blonde looked uncertain, "Mind transfer is kind of dangerous…besides I've never actually done it on actual ninja before."

"Asuma-sensei probably knows about your clan's ability and will be able to dodge it if he knows it's coming. Only do it when I have him distracted and still," he continued.

"What's the signal exactly? What am I looking for?" Ino wondered.

"You'll know it when you see it…trust me," Naruto replied reassuringly.

Ino nodded, "If you say so…I don't like this plan."

"C'mon let's go!" Naruto said seriously as the three genin leapt from cover and back into Asuma's path.

The jonin looked between the three of them calmly as he maintained his stance, "Sometime today guys…"

A moment later, Naruto charged in first. He threw a variety of shuriken and kunai to alter Asuma's anticipated defense before charging in to stab him.

The man easily caught Naruto's wrist and held the blade back before swiftly kicking the genin away. A second later he ducked from a powerful kick courtesy of Hinata. The Hyuuga girl had her Byakugan activated and was fighting with more intensity than either Naruto or Ino expected.

Asuma kept the majority of his focus on avoiding Hinata's gentle fist strikes, but never gained an immediate edge over the girl as Naruto and Ino swept in for cheap shots and a few bell grab attempts.

This went on for about a minute until Asuma started getting more serious. He swiftly kicked Hinata back causing the girl to go skidding over the ground after a backflip.

He spoke approvingly, "You're a pretty aggressive fighter for such a meek girl, Hinata Hyuuga. I suppose that's to be expected of a Hyuuga."

Naruto took this moment to sweep in and nearly swiped Asuma with a kunai. The jonin reacted quickly by drawing his chakra blade trench knives and parrying the kunai with one of them.

He was physically stronger than Naruto which made the clash short-lived. Thinking fast, Naruto ducked from a swing and drew a second kunai. Asuma responded by readying his other trench knife. The two then had a swift and impressive battle of blades as they furiously jabbed, cleaved, and spun around one another.

Naruto eventually got the upper hand, but upon stabbing the man, he disappeared into a log substitution.

Quickly surveying the ground, Naruto charged towards Hinata and nearly blindsided the jonin who had literally just come out of cover next to her. Asuma looked surprised by Naruto's reaction time and spoke approvingly, "You're pretty fast, Naruto Uzumaki. Good reflexes."

Hinata flanked the jonin and charged in for supporting attacks as Naruto got into another knife fight with Asuma. Seeing he was, disadvantaged, Asuma delivered a powerful kick into Naruto knocking him back into a nearby tree.

He then turned towards Hinata to deal with her. As he moved in, Ino threw a hail of kunai his direction allowing Hinata a quick moment of respite to distance herself.

Naruto did not allow for a moment's pause as he immediately took the offensive again to refocus Asuma's attention on him. He quickly put a kunai in his mouth for an extra blade and fought with increased speed against Asuma.

The jonin looked a bit surprised by the genin's gradually increasing speed, _'He's moving faster than before…he doesn't even look tired at all. Was he just warming up to test me? I wonder if the Kyuubi affects his stamina? The Hyuuga girl looks out of breath, but he hasn't stopped moving once.'_

Asuma was also a bit surprised by Naruto's skill with kunai fencing. Even though Asuma was physically stronger, and their speeds were similar, the Jonin was disadvantaged against Naruto using three blades. Deciding to take the boy a bit more seriously now, he channeled wind chakra over his trench knifes causing them to glow a light blue.

He immediately cut two of Naruto's kunai in half with his newly sharpened blades which forced the blonde to fall back momentarily.

Asuma watched Naruto's face carefully as the blonde threw the broken kunai to the ground, _'He doesn't seem as concerned with my wind chakra as I'd expect a new genin to be. He has a battle calmness I wouldn't expect for a boy his age.'_

A moment later, Naruto drew two more kunai. The blonde spun them around stylishly for a brief moment before clasping the blades hard. As he did so, wind chakra began to pour from his three kunai and coated the blades.

' _He can use wind chakra?! Didn't he just graduate from the academy?!'_ Asuma thought disbelievingly as Naruto charged in for another blade fight. Asuma found the blonde's speed remarkable as Naruto practically danced around him from all sides.

His distraction for focusing solely on Naruto cost him as Hinata managed to land a hit against him from behind. Asuma swiftly spun around and kicked the girl back before backflipping away from Naruto. The blonde briefly looked over to see Ino at mid-range, _'She looks like she's in place. Now for the signal.'_

Naruto threw two of his kunai towards Asuma which the man expectedly deflected. Naruto then moved in and formed hand seals with the last kunai in his mouth. He spoke through gritted teeth, "Kaze Shunshin no Jutsu (Wind Instantaneous Body Skill)"

In a gust of wind he practically appeared right next to Asuma catching the jonin off guard for a moment. He also performed wind retrieval with one handed seals bringing his two kunai back to each hand. Asuma immediately crossed his blades to parry Naruto's surprise attack allowing the genin to keep the man still.

In their brief lock, Hinata cheap shot the Jonin's arm distracting him even further. _'Damn, these kids are tougher than regular genin…especially him. Was that a wind body flicker?'_ Asuma thought as Naruto pushed as hard as he could.

' _Where's the third one? Oh wait!'_ Asuma immediately realized what he was being set up for and rolled to the side as Ino released her mind transfer jutsu.

Instead of it hitting Asuma, the mind transfer hit Naruto. Ino's body fell over as she briefly entered Naruto's mind.

Instead of taking over his body however, it caused her to have a brief vision of Naruto's memory. She saw it through his eyes as a young Naruto walked down the street. Many villagers were avoiding him like the plague as he came up to a mask shop. She could see the look of disgust in their eyes. The memory played out in several brief flashes as she saw a shop owner toss a fox mask at Naruto yelling at the boy that he could keep it.

This brief vision into Naruto's memories was cut short as her vision went completely black. Dark and ominous power quickly flooded her sensations as she heard hundreds of voices all at once. Nothing in particular stood out to her other than someone shouting the word ' _demon_ '. A moment later, red chakra appeared in the darkness followed by a fearsome voice, **"Get out!"**

Ino was immediately forced out of Naruto's mind by this voice. Upon returning to her body, Ino looked around horrified for a moment until she realized she was herself again. She briefly glanced at Naruto who looked a bit unhappy, but otherwise fine. Hinata had wide, fearful eyes and Asuma was concerned.

"You almost had me with that set up you three…not bad," Asuma spoke up causing the genin to regain their resolve.

Ino briefly stared at Naruto confused, _'What the hell was that dark voice in his mind? Was it him? I wonder why the mind transfer didn't work. Was that his past I saw?'_

"We got the bells, Asuma-sensei," Naruto spoke up causing the man to eye him confused.

True enough, Asuma noticed they were both gone. He could barely believe it as he saw Hinata holding both of them much to his surprise.

' _When did they grab them? I never saw him or felt him do it…was it before that missed mind transfer? That might explain why someone with his speed didn't dodge it. The Hyuuga girl ran in when I was distracted and grabbed them from Naruto when he was immobilized, I guess. I wonder if Inoichi's daughter is okay…there's no telling what that mind transfer might have done hitting a jinchuuriki like Naruto,'_ Asuma contemplated.

Hinata walked over and handed Naruto a bell, "H-here, Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled at her, "Good work improvising during that distraction. It didn't go exactly as planned, but overall we got them."

"T-thanks, Naruto-kun," Hinata replied sheepishly with a blush.

' _Hyuuga's more useful than I thought she'd be…I'm shocked.'_ Naruto noted mentally.

" **I can't believe that dumb blonde girl hit you with her mind transfer. I forced her out immediately, but there's no telling what she might have seen,"** Kurama spoke up concerned.

' _I guess I'll ask her about it later…she doesn't seem to be freaking out, so maybe it wasn't much,'_ Naruto replied.

" **Good point."** the fox nodded.

"Alright, well since you two got the bells, your teammate is being sent back to the academy. Good efforts all around though…" Asuma said sternly.

Ino looked dejected and filled with shame, "I'm the sacrifice huh?"

Asuma sighed as he watched the genin, _'Here's the real test…I wonder what they'll do?'_

Hinata looked away sadly as Ino hung her head in shame. The Hyuuga girl spoke up emotionally, "I'm sorry, Ino-chan…"

"Here...take my bell, Ino," Naruto spoke up causing Ino and Hinata's eyes to widen.

Asuma looked at Naruto seriously, "You sure you want to do that? You'll have to go back to the academy for another year."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Naruto replied stoically as he handed the bell to Ino.

" **What are you doing?"** Kurama asked.

' _I'm resetting so that I can get another team. What's another year in the academy anyways? I'm already stronger than most people in this village. Besides, I don't think I want to be on this team anyways. Both of them are from clans and are too high profile for my liking,'_ Naruto responded.

" **Ughhh…fuck that academy."** Kurama groaned in disapproval.

Ino looked at Naruto disbelievingly, "But why?! Didn't you say you hated the academy? You're just going to sacrifice yourself for me?!"

"You both have clans and families to appease…I don't. What's another year of training anyway?" Naruto shrugged calmly.

"N-Naruto-kun, if y-you're going back…I-I will too!" Hinata stuttered as bravely as she could.

Ino looked surprised by her teammates giving up their bells. She sighed heavily as she dropped the one in her hand, "I just can't accept this bell while you two go back to the academy. I guess I'm going back too. Hopefully, my dad understands…"

"Alright, well all that's left to tell you guys now is that you all pass," Asuma interrupted the somewhat grim mood with a smile.

"Wait, what?! We do?! But…the bells?" Ino looked confused as she could barely word a sentence.

"The bells weren't the purpose of this test. No matter if you got the bells or not, the test is meant to determine how you would handle one of your teammates being a sacrifice. It shows comradery and loyalty to your team by all of you choosing to do the same thing. As shinobi, we must always value our objective as a priority, but we must never forsake our own teammates just for an objective. The only time this is acceptable is when there is no other choice…though you shouldn't have to worry about that until you're all chunin," Asuma elaborated.

' _Well that's a convenient turn of events…I guess I'm stuck with these two after all,'_ Naruto sighed mentally.

" **I don't think I could have handled another year of that place…"** Kurama said with relief.

"So what would have happened if we didn't get the bells?" Naruto asked.

Asuma shook his head, "If you didn't, I would still fail the person who gave the weakest effort and you would be in the same position. I must say though…you're the only genin team in recent history that's ever actually gotten a bell that I know of. The Hokage told me that the Sannin also did as well when he trained them as children."

"So what now, sensei?" Naruto asked somewhat anxiously.

"Tomorrow we'll be starting our first missions as a team. Take the rest of the day off and celebrate…you've all earned it. Meet me here tomorrow, same time," Asuma said proudly.

Naruto glanced over at his two teammates, "Good job you two…I'll see you tomorrow,"

Without another word, the blonde boy was the first person to leave. Asuma glanced over at Ino and Hinata curiously, "Is something wrong?"

"Hey, Asuma-sensei…have you ever heard of the Uzumaki Clan before?" Ino asked curiously.

He glanced at the girl perplexed, "Why do you ask?"

"Naruto is apparently the last Uzumaki…at least that's what he told me," Ino replied.

Asuma crossed his arms, "Hmm…yes I have. They're an old clan from the Whirlpool village. They had good relations with the Senju Clan though. They were Konoha's closest allies during its founding."

"Do they have a bloodline?" Ino wondered.

The jonin shrugged, "None that I'm aware of…the Uzumaki Clan was wiped out a long time ago I believe. They were pretty renown for fuinjutsu and healing though. I also heard they had large chakra reserves."

Hinata perked up curiously, _'Healing? Maybe that's why Naruto knows medical ninjutsu...'_

"Interesting…what wiped them out?" Ino asked.

"I believe Kiri and Kumo both did during a past war. I actually don't know that much about them beyond that, sadly," Asuma replied.

"So Naruto is the last member of that clan just like Sasuke-kun is the last member of his?" Ino clarified.

Asuma shrugged, "It would seem so."

"Did you know his parents at all?" Ino wondered.

The Jonin looked at her briefly, "Sadly, no…"

"Do you know why my dad doesn't like Naruto? He warned me about going near him…" Ino trailed off uncertainly.

Seeing where the conversation was starting to go, Asuma shook his head, "I couldn't say, Ino, but your father might have misjudged him. Naruto was willing to go back to the academy for you to pass. He might be a bit strange, but the kid's definitely not one to let his team down. You're actually pretty lucky to be on a team with him. I'm kind of amazed he can use wind release too. He'll be a good shinobi."

' _He looks a lot like Yondaime-sama…I guess it's no surprise his son is skilled too,'_ Asuma thought briefly as he began to walk off.

"You two take care now…I have some business I need to attend to," Asuma waved before disappearing.

With only Hinata and Ino left, the blonde girl glanced at the shy Hyuuga and spoke, "So…do you have a crush on Naruto?"

"Eh?!" Hinata gasped in complete shame as Ino stared at her.

The blonde girl shook her head and laughed, "I thought so…it's kind of cute actually. Although, I don't really understand the appeal in a weirdo like Naruto. Sasuke-kun is much better."

Hinata did not reply as she looked down.

"Look, I don't care if you want to go all lovey dovey with him, but I really don't want to be the third wheel on this team…so can you not do that stuff when I'm around please?" Ino sighed.

"S-sure, Ino-chan…b-but I-I don't think Naruto-kun likes me like that anyway," she said sadly in response.

Ino sighed, "I think you're better off without him then. That guy is really weird and kind of a jerk."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ino-chan," Hinata managed to say without any nervousness as she left gloomily.

The blonde girl then decided to finally go home herself. The whole trip back, all she could do was think about the test, and the unusual events that occurred during it.

' _Naruto is a mystery…he just knows all of this ninjutsu, he's from a dead clan, my dad hates him for no reason, and nobody knows anything about his family or life…what was that memory of his though? A mask shop that threw a fox mask at him…how strange.'_ Ino thought as she went home.

 **Hokage Tower**

"He can use wind ninjutsu? That is surprising…I don't recall anyone training Naruto how to do something like that. Nobody in the village is very skilled at Wind ninjutsu except for you, me, and Danzo. It's uncommon in Konoha," the third hokage said shaking his head with disbelief.

"Believe me, I was shocked when I saw it…I have no idea how he could have possibly learned it," Asuma shook his head.

"Naruto spends a lot of time reading and researching…he could have possibly learned it on his own. The only other explanation is someone else taught him, but that's hard to believe considering the few viable tutors," Hiruzen noted as he put his pipe in his mouth.

"Do you suspect Danzo-sama?" Asuma asked curiously.

Hiruzen sighed, "I highly doubt it…but it is worth asking him. I am willing to believe Naruto learned this on his own, but I don't want to dismiss the possibility that Danzo is trying to preemptively weaponize the boy as one of his agents."

Asuma shrugged, "Yeah, well considering Naruto's dad, I suppose it's not impossible that he's smart enough to teach himself…the Yondaime was a true genius."

"Minato Namikaze was a prodigy…a once in a generation shinobi. You think Naruto is similar to his father?" Hiruzen asked his son.

The bearded jonin shrugged, "I don't know for sure, but he's clearly better than anyone thought he was. I am willing to bet he's the best genin by a longshot. He didn't once get tired while fighting me, and nothing fazed his battle calmness. The kid's going to be a good shinobi at the rate he's going."

"I see…well it's good to know that Naruto took my advice to heart three years ago," the Sandaime said with a smile.

"What advice?" Asuma wondered.

"Nothing…keep an eye on him and let me know how his progression goes," the Hokage replied.

Asuma paused as he walked to the exit, but briefly stopped as he spoke up again, "Naruto seems to know about the Uzumaki Clan to some extent…I think you should talk to him about that the next time you see him, father. I'm bringing them in for their first mission tomorrow. Maybe you should ask him then…"

"I will keep that in mind…" the Hokage nodded before Asuma left.

After Asuma was gone, Hiruzen took a seat at his desk and pulled out a familiar orb. He looked through it and caught sight of Naruto. Currently, the boy was sitting on the Hokage monument heads and staring over the village.

The Sandaime sighed, _'I knew this day come eventually…Naruto must have found out about his clan. It's only a matter of time before he asks me about his parents again. Is it right to tell him or should I keep it a secret until he's come of age?'_

 **Naruto, The Next Day**

Naruto awoke the next day in his apartment and quickly got dressed before heading back to Team Ten's training grounds. He had spent the remainder of yesterday training by himself in the Senju Grove and painting his armor. The new genin wanted to wear it desperately, but knew it was best to save for another time.

 _'I stayed up late painting that armor…I'm so tired,'_ Naruto yawned as he hurried to Team Ten's training grounds.

 **"It was worth it though. That armor turned out nicely. When are you going to start wearing it, anyways?"** Kurama asked.

' _Maybe for our first real mission…there's really not a point to wearing armor for the stupid D rank missions you've told me about. What exactly do they entail again?'_ Naruto wondered.

" **D-Rank missions are ridiculous chores from what I recall. I can't even imagine the stupid things you'll probably have to do. I recall one of them involved grocery shopping for the elderly. Another was picking weeds out of a garden. Stupid nonsense like that..."** Kurama groaned in annoyance.

Naruto pushed his thoughts aside as he arrived at Team Ten's training ground. He had a face of lackluster enthusiasm but regained his bearing as he saw Ino and Hinata both already waiting there.

Ino shook her head as she looked at a pocket watch, "7:59…jeez, could you have cut it any closer? You got here early yesterday."

"Yeah sorry I slept in." Naruto said casually.

"I'm guessing our sensei will be late too," Ino sighed as she looked at the pocket watch again.

As if summoned by her words, the jonin came behind Naruto a few seconds later, "Oh hey guys, good to see you're all here on time."

"Some of us have been here for half an hour…" Ino muttered disapprovingly.

Hinata awkwardly twiddled her fingers and wasn't sure what to say. She chose to remain silent as Asuma came up and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder from behind.

The blonde seemed a bit alarmed by the physical contact, but quickly relaxed as his sensei addressed the group, "I signed you guys all up for a bunch of D-Rank missions."

"Sweet! I can't wait to start doing real missions like a real shinobi," Ino perked up with excitement.

Asuma smiled, "Yep, these are some vital missions that are imperative for building teamwork and maintaining a good village presence."

' _Ughhh…I can already tell this is going to be something stupid,'_ Naruto groaned mentally.

"So what is our first mission going to be, Asuma-sensei?!" Ino asked excitedly.

"It's tradition that every new genin team receives their first mission directly from the Hokage himself. This helps him to identify new prospective shinobi and for the genin to properly meet the village leader. When the Senju Clan used to run the village, they always believed it was imperative for the lowest ranking and highest ranking ninjas in the village to have proper interaction. This prevented a lot of misunderstandings so that the Hokage can see his troops as people, and the troops can see the Hokage and other leaders as people. Empathy and trust are vital parts of the chain of command…and the faith we place in those above us is what has held this village together for so long," Asuma lectured.

' _Tobirama-sensei always used to say that…he said never tell anyone to do something you wouldn't be willing to do yourself. Nobody will be willing to die for you or the village unless they know you're willing to die for them. The Hokage should always set the example, and nobody under him should ever have a reason to question his leadership,'_ Naruto thought with approval.

"Well let's go get this mission then!" Ino chirped with enthusiasm.

"I h-hope it isn't too dangerous," Hinata added a bit softly.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Let's get this going then…"

 **Hokage Tower, Team Ten**

As the three genin stood across from the Sandaime Hokage, they all stared at the man with different reactions. Ino and Hinata looked a bit intimidated, with the former slightly awestruck. Naruto had a look of indifference and addressed the Hokage casually, "Hey gramps, so what's our first mission?"

"I am glad to see you graduated from the Shinobi Academy Naruto. Asuma tells me that you are quite gifted and Iruka remarked on your vast improvement over the years. I'm proud of your progress," the Hokage said approvingly.

The blonde nodded with a slight smile, "Thanks, gramps…I've got a long way to go to become Hokage, but at least I'm one step closer, yeah?"

"Indeed you are, Naruto. Now who are these other two teammates of yours?" the Hokage asked as he looked at Ino and Hinata.

Both seemed a bit impressed that Naruto personally knew the Hokage. Ino seemed particularly shocked by it, _'How does Naruto know the Hokage? Seriously like what the hell is with him?! I thought Asuma-sensei was exaggerating when he said the Hokage knew Naruto.'_

"Nice to meet you Hokage-sama. I'm H-Hinata Hyuuga," the dark-haired girl bowed respectfully.

"Ah yes, you are Hiashi's daughter if I recall correctly. Nice to meet you," Hiruzen replied.

"I'm Ino Yamanaka…Hokage-sama," Ino bowed.

The Sandaime nodded, "Yes, Inoichi's daughter correct? Well it is good to see such fine young shinobi such as yourselves growing up and taking the role of shinobi. As ninjas of the Hidden Leaf village, you are responsible for protecting the village and its citizens. Since you're all still young and untrained, you are only authorized to take D rank missions for the first few months. I happen to have one right here that will be perfect for your new team…"

"Really? What is it?" Ino asked eagerly.

"A certain infamous cat has escaped her owner once again, and it's up to you three to recover it. Here's the mission paperwork…good luck," Hiruzen said with a concealed smile.

 _'Do the adults think this is funny? Is this what they call hazing?'_ Naruto wondered.

 **"Rescuing cats out of trees…are they serious?!"** Kurama scoffed.

"We have to get a cat?!" Naruto spoke up disbelievingly.

Asuma sighed, "Not just any cat…this one is a pain. We should go talk to the owner. We'll be at this the rest of the day."

Hinata and Ino looked a bit perplexed by the idea of catching a runaway cat, but held their outbursts as the three genin followed Asuma out. Before they could all leave, Hiruzen coughed briefly, "Naruto, could you stay for a minute. I want to talk to you alone for a minute."

Ino's eyes shot back at him as Naruto remained. Hinata looked curiously, but neither girl got any insight into what was happening as Asuma closed the door leaving Naruto alone with the Hokage.

The blonde girl looked at her sensei annoyed, "What the hell is that all about?"

"I couldn't say, but it's not my place to question the Hokage," Asuma feigned ignorance.

 _'Okay…now things are just getting ridiculous. Why does Naruto already know the Hokage and what could they possibly have to talk about?!'_ Ino wondered.

Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office, Naruto stared at the Sandaime seriously, "What do you want to talk about gramps?"

 **"I figured this conversation was coming…"** Kurama sighed.

"It's come to my attention that you're skilled with wind ninjutsu…according to Asuma. Is that correct, Naruto?" the man asked.

"Yes, it is…" Naruto replied bluntly.

"How did you learn it? Did someone teach you? You're not in trouble, Naruto…but I just wanted to know. Wind Style is very rare in Konoha," the man continued.

The boy crossed his arms, "Really? Well you know something I wanted to know about? My parents…and why you refuse to tell me about them. Why don't we talk about that instead."

"Your parents both died the night the Kyuubi attacked, Naruto," Hiruzen explained.

"Yeah, and what ever happened to that fox anyway?" Naruto asked despite already knowing the answer.

The Sandaime sighed, _'Forgive me, Naruto, but I swore to your parents that I would keep you safe. You can't know yet…'_

"The Yondaime sacrificed himself to defeat it…" the Hokage answered vaguely.

Naruto glared at him somewhat angrily as he lifted his shirt up and pointed at the seal on his stomach, "Then what the hell is this seal doing on my body?!"

The Hokage's eyes widened surprised, "Naruto do you-"

"Know about the Kyuubi? Of course I do…how long were you going to wait to tell me?!" Naruto demanded.

The Sandaime looked at the boy shamefully, "I'm sorry, Naruto, but I didn't feel it was right to tell you about the Kyuubi. You were only a child."

"As if that mattered to the villagers. They think I'm some kind of monster…you haven't done anything to stop them either." Naruto shook his head.

"How did you find out anyways?" the Hokage asked curiously.

"Someone told me…does it really matter? You don't get answers from me until I get answer from you!" Naruto said angrily.

The Hokage stared at the boy sadly, "The Yondaime sacrificed himself by sealing the fox into a newborn baby. You were that child, Naruto. You are a jinchuuriki."

' _He still refuses to mention my parents' names and identities…why?'_ Naruto thought with annoyance.

" **Somehow I'm not surprised…"** Kurama growled.

"What do you know of the Uzumaki Clan, Naruto?" Hiruzen asked after a brief silence.

"Not much other than the fact that they're from the Whirlpool village and they're all dead now. Maybe you should tell me about them…" the boy practically spat.

"They are renowned for Fuinjutsu and for having strong chakra pools. They also have exceptionally durable bodies…the reason you were chosen to be a jinchuuriki is because only an Uzumaki has a body capable of containing a bijuu as powerful as the nine tails," Hiruzen told half of the truth.

Naruto looked at the Hokage curiously, "How was the Uzumaki Clan wiped out?"

"They were attacked during the last war by Kumo and Kiri and Uzushio was destroyed. The survivors all spread across the shinobi world," Hiruzen replied.

' _I didn't know that…'_ Naruto thought curiously.

" **I did…I believe Kushina moved here before the incident happened. Those other villages didn't dare attack it while Mito was alive. Ironic that they do it after I leave Uzushio..."**

"What does it mean for me to be a jinchuuriki, gramps? Am I just a weapon for the village? Some demon outcast?" Naruto asked the man uncertainly with a bit of sadness.

The Hokage shook his head, "No, Naruto…it was the Yondaime's wish that you would be seen as a hero by the village. It saddens me greatly that they do not. I passed a law that forbade anyone to speak of it, but the older generations all know. Fortunately, the younger shinobi do not. Show your heart to them, Naruto, and trust that they will accept you when and if they ever find out."

' _How can I trust anyone, when even YOU won't tell me the whole damn truth?! How is it helping me by not telling me about my parents?! Gramps is really pissing me off right now._ ' Naruto thought furiously.

On the outside, he maintained his composure as he bowed briefly, "I should get to my team…"

"Good work on learning wind ninjutsu, Naruto. You may yet be Hokage one day," Hiruzen tried to offer encouragement as Naruto leapt out the nearby window.

 **"Well on the bright side now, at least he won't be asking you many questions anymore,"** Kurama spoke up.

 _'I thought about mentioning my parents to him, but then he'd really know something was up. It's not unfathomable that I would know about you from some random villager,'_ Naruto thought distantly.

 **"I wonder how long it'll take before he finally mentions them to you? Does he intend on waiting until you're a jonin?"** Kurama scoffed.

 _'Who knows...'_ Naruto shrugged.

 **Later, Konoha suburbs**

"Naruto chase the cat this way, and I'll intercept it! Hinata cover the right side!" Ino shouted as the three genin chased a stubborn cat around an urban Konoha suburb. Mostly civilians lived in this part of the village, and some even watched with interest as the young shinobi hunted down the cat.

Naruto dove for the cat, but it narrowly avoided him and charged between Hinata and Ino. Both girls stumbled as they each attempted to grab it, but unfortunately, the cat got away.

' _We've been searching for this cat for three hours and chasing it for one! Why can't I catch it!?'_ Naruto thought frustrated as he bolted past Ino and Hinata after the nimble feline.

It swiftly climbed a wall and onto a rooftop, which Naruto immediately followed. He finally managed to catch the cat as he dove onto the creature and held it still. The stubborn animal flailed around and meowed annoyingly as it tried to claw him.

The claw marks immediately healed, so Naruto didn't pay them any mind. The animal finally calmed down as Naruto scooped it up and jumped down to his teammates. Both looked relieved that he managed to catch the elusive pet.

"Finally…that was freaking stupid!" Ino huffed in disapproval.

Naruto sighed in agreement, "Let's just get this damn cat back to its owner…"

"These D-Rank missions suck! I mean what's the idea here?! Making genin do this is ridiculous!" Ino continued ranting.

"Well, considering how annoying this cat was to catch, I doubt a civilian could catch it," Naruto noted.

Hinata frowned, "That poor cat probably d-doesn't like its owner."

Naruto sighed as he placed his hand on the cat's stomach, _'I doubt this is the last time I'll be coming after this annoying animal. Let's just discreetly put a seal on it so I can catch it instantly next time.'_

 **"You're marking that cat for Flying Raijin?"** Kurama laughed.

 _'Might as well…I'm not chasing this damn thing all the way across the village again,'_ Naruto thought strongly.

The rest of the mission was spent in relative silence as the three genin returned the poor cat to its horrific owner. Upon turning in their mission to the tower and leaving, Naruto automatically began to make his departure.

He didn't go far from the tower door before Asuma spoke up, "Hey, Naruto, you want lunch? It's my treat."

He looked at his sensei a bit perplexed but nodded in agreement, "Sure…"

Shortly thereafter, the blonde boy was at a ramen stand of all places. Iruka had taken him here a couple times before, and Naruto found the food enjoyable whenever he came around.

As he sat down at the ramen stand, the owner and his daughter warmly greeted him, "Welcome back, Naruto-kun. Do you want the Miso ramen again?"

' _I'm surprised how nice these ramen stand people are to me…they always call me by my name when I come here with Iruka-sensei.'_ Naruto thought as he nodded

"I'll have the same thing, oh and I'm paying too," Asuma announced to the Ichiraku workers as he took a seat next to the boy.

Asuma noticed Naruto's distant, melancholy face and spoke up, "What's got you down kid? You made it to genin, you should be proud."

"Asuma-sensei…how do you feel about being my sensei?" Naruto asked the man as he glanced over him.

The bearded jonin smiled, "Personally, I'm actually glad I'm your sensei. You're skilled in wind ninjutsu like me. I'm actually ideally suited to teach you. Plus, you seem like a good kid, and my father likes you a lot."

' _There's no way he doesn't know I'm a jinchuuriki…why's he being so nice?'_ Naruto wondered.

"I know you're not very talkative or social, but feel free to talk to me if you need anything. I'm your sensei now, and I take that role seriously. I'm here to look out for you," he continued.

"Thanks, Asuma-sensei," Naruto replied with a genuine smile.

"You're exceptionally skilled, Naruto, but you shouldn't ignore your teammates outside of missions. They've both expressed concern about you. I think it's probably a good idea for you to reach out and become friends with them," Asuma suggested.

"I can try, but I don't have anything in common with them. Plus, they're both girls," Naruto said blankly.

Asuma chuckled, "What's wrong with that? Lots of guys would love to be in your position with two clan Kunoichi and a cool sensei on their team."

"I'll make an effort to reach out to them, but don't expect much," Naruto sighed.

' _He's practically dismissed the idea of having a bond with anyone…I should really try to break him of that. It's a wonder he's not gone crazy from loneliness and rejection yet. The kid has some serious willpower to endure the hatred he receives,'_ Asuma thought concerned.

"I know you've had a rough childhood as an orphan, Naruto, but you'll always be alone unless you're willing to reach out to others. Sometimes they'll hurt you, but sometimes they won't. You have to take the good with the bad…walling yourself away like this won't get you anything at all. Just think about that okay?" Asuma said as he stood up.

"I will Asuma-sensei," the boy nodded.

"Good, I'm going to go do some chores, but I'll see you tomorrow. Give someone a chance, Naruto…that's a personal mission from me to you."

' _He does have a point…how am I ever going to get people to like me if I act like Sasuke all the time?'_ Naruto thought with a bit of self-awareness.

" **You're more like that Uchiha brat than anyone else your age,"** Kurama noted.

' _Maybe I should reach out to Sasuke…if anyone would understand being an orphan, he sure would,'_ Naruto pondered.

" **Wait…are you serious? You want to go befriend that Uchiha kid? You're joking right?"** the fox said disbelievingly.

' _I wouldn't mind seeing how strong he actually is…'_ Naruto followed up.

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Alright, there's chapter 3 for you guys. I didn't expect to update this fic so soon, but I figured why not put some momentum behind it while I'm in a Naruto mood. So anyways, let's have brief recap on the events of this 14 thousand word chapter.

Lots of the Jonin are notably upset about Naruto being a ninja…no surprises there, but Ino's dad seems especially vocal about his disapproval. How will things pan out later? Will Inoichi change his mind about Naruto, will Ino uncover the truth? Hinata is still kind of a background character, but she's slowly but surely toughening up a bit. The obvious and upcoming Land of Waves stuff will no doubt change her further.

Naruto and Kurama talked a lot this chapter. I kind of wanted to illustrate their mindsets a bit more with all the dialogue here. Just because Kurama accepts Naruto as a friend, doesn't mean he likes Konoha or is _good_. He practically told Naruto that he hated Kushina, so things aren't all rainbows and sunshine there. Also, with Tobirama gone now, Kurama is Naruto's biggest influencer.

Some people will probably get mad about Hiruzen not telling Naruto anything...or Naruto actually revealing his knowledge of the Kyuubi. The reason I wrote that is because Naruto already told Iruka years ago, and he wanted to call the Hokage out for his bullshit. There's a bit of tension between the two of them now that Naruto realizes the Hokage isn't going to tell him anything. More stuff will definitely come of that later...including Danzo and the like.

Asuma is pretty much the new optimistic guiding light for Naruto now. He gave the boy some good advice and is trying to make him friendlier so he doesn't turn into an antisocial sociopath. Some people probably think this fic is turning into a dark Naruto fic...it's not. It's more of a grey Naruto fic. He's had a different life and progression here, and so he's far less optimistic with Kurama and Tobirama's realist attitudes having shaped his young mind.

Next chapter, Naruto will be going to see Sasuke. What will come of their interaction? You'll have to wait and see. Anyways, thanks for reading, and hopefully most of you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for next chapter and feel free to PM me if you have questions/etc.


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